Aggregation of Neurofilaments in NF-L Transfected Neuronal Cells: Regeneration of the Filamentous Network by a Protein Kinase C Inhibitor

Abstract: Cytoplasmic inclusion bodies that are accumulations of neurofilaments are the pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases and have been produced in transgenic mice by overexpression of mouse (NF-L and NF-M; light and medium chains, respectively) and human (NF-M and NF-H; medium and heavy chains, respectively) neurofilament subunits. This report describes a neuronal culture model in which human NF-L was overexpressed to produce cytoplasmic accumulations of neurofilaments within cell bodies concomitant with the collapse of the endogenous neurofilament network. Electron microscopy showed that, within accumulations, neurofilaments retained a filamentous structure. The culture model thus provides a novel system in which the effect on neurofilament accumulations of manipulating protein phosphorylation can be studied. Treatment of cells containing neurofilament accumulations with bisindolylmaleimide, a specific protein kinase C inhibitor, resulted in regeneration of the filamentous network; this effect was not due to a change in the level of transfected NF-L expression. These findings lend support to the suggestion that an impairment in the regulation of protein phosphorylation may lead to the accumulation of neurofilaments seen in neurodegenerative disease.