The influence of chronic nicotine treatment on proteins expressed in the mouse hippocampus and cortex

Chronic treatment with nicotine, the primary psychoactive substance in tobacco smoke, affects central nervous system functions, such as synaptic plasticity. Here, to clarify the effects of chronic nicotine treatment on the higher brain functions, proteomic analysis of the hippocampus and cortex of mice treated for 6 months with nicotine was performed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by mass spectrometry. There was significant change in the expression of 16 proteins and one phosphoprotein in the hippocampus (increased tubulin β-5, atp5b, MDH1, cytochrome b-c1 complex subunit 1, Hsc70, dynamin, profilin-2, 4-aminobutyrate aminotransferase, mitochondrial isoform 1 precursor, calpain small subunit 1, and vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase subunit B and decreased γ-actin, α-tubulin isotype M-α-2, putative β-actin, tubulin β-2A, NDUFA10, and G6PD) and 24 proteins and two phosphoproteins in the cortex (increased spectrin α chain, non-erythrocytic 1 isoform 1, tubulin β-5, γ-actin, creatine kinase B-type, LDH-B, secernin-1, UCH-L1, 14-3-3 γ, type II peroxiredoxin 1, PEBP-1, and unnamed protein product and decreased tubulin α-1C, α-internexin, γ-enolase, PDHE1-B, DPYL2, vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase subunit A, vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase subunit B, TCTP, NADH dehydrogenase Fe-S protein 1, protein disulfide-isomerase A3, hnRNP H2, γ-actin, atp5b, and unnamed protein product). Additionally, Western blotting validated the changes in dynamin, Hsc70, MDH1, NDUFA10, α-internexin, tubulin β-5 chain, and secernin-1. Thus, these findings indicate that chronic nicotine treatment changes the expression of proteins and phosphoproteins in the hippocampus and cortex. We propose that effect of smoking on higher brain functions could be mediated by alterations in expression levels of these proteins.