Inhibition of excitatory neuronal cell death by cell-permeable calcineurin autoinhibitory peptide

In glutamate-mediated excitatory neuronal cell death, immunosuppressants (FK506, Cys-A) are powerful agents that protect neurons from apoptosis. Immunosuppressants inhibit two types of enzyme, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase (calcineurin: CaN), and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans-isomerase (PPIase) activity such as the FKBP family. In this study, we used a protein transduction approach to determine the functional role of CaN and to produce a potential therapeutic agent for glutamate-mediated neuronal cell death. We created a novel cell-permeable CaN autoinhibitory peptide using the 11 arginine protein transduction domain. This peptide was highly efficient at transducing into primary culture neurons, potently inhibited CaN phosphatase activities, and inhibited glutamate-mediated neuronal cell death. These results showed that CaN plays an important role in excitatory neuronal cell death and cell-permeable CaN autoinhibitory peptide could be a new drug to protect neurons from excitatory neuronal death.