Altered expression of CRMPs in the brain of bovine spongiform encephalopathy-infected mice during disease progression

While recent studies suggest that synaptic alterations are first events in the mechanisms of prion-mediated neurodegeneration, little is known on the identity of the neuronal plasticity-related genes potentially concerned. Here the expression of 4 Collapsin Response Mediator Proteins (CRMPs), a family of signal transduction proteins involved in brain development and altered in Alzheimer's disease, was studied in the brain of C57Bl/6 mice infected with the BSE strain of prion agent, using RT-PCR and Western-blot methods. At the terminal stage of the disease, gene expression of each CRMP had decreased, while at the mid-stage of the disease only CRMP4 (mRNA and protein) expression had increased, concomitant to the start of PrPSc accumulation in the brainstem. Altogether our findings picked out originally CRMPs, and especially CRMP4, as potential contributors to prion pathogenesis.