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Original

Exp Neurobiol 2004; 13(2): 85-90

Published online December 31, 2004

© The Korean Society for Brain and Neural Sciences

Nerve Growth Factor Down-regulates theExpression of Chemokine Receptorsin Rat PC12 Cells

Kyung-Hee Lee1, Eun-joo H. Lee1, Hye-suk Park2,Chun-Jeih Ryu3, Hyo-Jeong Hong3 and Ji-young Kim2*

1Graduate School of East-West Medical Science and 2Graduate School ofBiotechnology and Institute of Life Scienice and ResourcesKyung Hee University, Yongin 449-701, Korea,3Antibody Engineering Research Laboratory, Korea ResearchInstitute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-333, Korea

Correspondence to: 1These authors contributed equally to the work.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Tel: +82-31-201-2435; Fax: +82-31-203-4969
e-mail: jkim@khu.ac.kr

Abstract

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is the classical inducer of neuronal differentiation. PC12 cells provided a model system of neuronal differentiation by NGF. Genes associated with the acquisition of a neuronal phenotype in PC12 cells need to be further explored. There has been growing interest in the role of chemokine and chemokine receptors in central nervous system development and disease. In this study, we determined the changes in mRNA expression of chemokine receptors by NGF treatment in PC12 cells. Using a real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay, we demons-trated that the amounts of CCR3, CCR5, CCR7, and CXCR4 mRNAs were reduced in response to NGF. Although it is unclear which aspects of PC12 cell differentiation they control, expression of the chemokine receptors may have a negative effect on devel-opment of the neuronal phenotype and their down-regulation is potentially important in neuronal differentiation. This study also suggests that broader neurophysiological activ-ities of chemokine receptors deserve to be investigated.

Keywords: Nerve growth factor, chemokine receptors, mRNA expression, real-time PCR, PC12 cells