Antiapoptotic effect bothin vivoandin vitroof A20 gene when transfected into rat hippocampal neurons.

To evaluate the antiapoptotic effect of the A20 gene in primary hippocampal neurons bothin vivoandin vitro.Primary hippocampal neurons in embryonic day 18 (E18) rats were transfected with the A20 gene by using the new Nucleofector electroporation transfection method. We then examined, whether A20 -neurons possessed anti-apoptotic abilities after TNF-α stimulationin vitro.A20-neurons and pcDNA3 -neurons were transplanted into the penumbra of the brains of rats that had been subjected to 90-min of ischemia induced by left middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).A20-neurons resisted TNF-α induced apoptosisin vitro.The apoptosis rate of neurons overexpressing A20 (28.46%±3.87%) was lower than that in neurons transfected with pcDNA3 (53.06%±5.36%). More A20-neurons survived in the penumbra both 3-d and 7-d after transplantation than did sham pcDNA3 neurons.The novel function of A20 may make it a potential targets for the gene therapy for neurological diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]