IR072-treated cells remained viable but no longer proliferated, although they showed a phenotype more like that PD332991 of undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells. Average neurite length was severely

reduced from 76 μm in control cells to 29 μm with IR072 (Figures 7C and 7D). Some control SH-SY5Y cells put out extremely long neurites (>150 μm), but transglutaminase inhibition almost completely eliminated such long neurites. Cold/Ca2+ fractionations tested whether lack of transglutaminase activity reduced MT stability as well as neurite extension. IR072 decreased both cold-stable and cold/Ca2+-stable tubulin levels, with more significant effects on cold/Ca2+ fractions (Figure 7E). These suggested that transglutaminase is essential for early neurite development by generating stable tubulin/MTs and possibly by enhancing MT polymerization. Our data suggested a direct role for TG2 in CST formation in the CNS. To test this, we Selleck AZD2281 evaluated CST levels in brain and spinal cord of TG2-KO mice (Nanda et al., 2001), where no TG2 immunoreactivity was detectable (Figure 8A, upper band). Total transglutaminase enzymatic activity was reduced to <30% of wild-type (WT) in both brain and

spinal cord (Figure 8B and 8C). Although transglutaminase activity and TG2 protein levels were comparable in brains of 5 week and 5 month WT mice, transglutaminase activity and TG2 protein levels decreased significantly in 5 month WT spinal cord relative

to the corresponding levels in 5 week WT spinal cord. CST levels (Figures 8D and 8E, black bars) and cold/Ca2+-stable Phosphatidylinositol diacylglycerol-lyase tubulin levels (Figures 8D and 8E, white bars) correlated with transglutaminase activity/TG2 protein levels in brain. CST levels were drastically reduced in 5 week TG2 KO mouse brain and spinal cord relative to the levels in age-matched WT mice. The drop remained in 5 month TG2 KO brain, but CST and transglutaminase activity levels in 5 month TG2 KO spinal cord were comparable to those seen in age-matched WTs, where TG2 protein level is low. Compensation from other transglutaminase isoforms (mainly TG1 and TG3) in brain maintained some transglutaminase activity, and CST remains sufficient to maintain the fundamental structure and function of the CNS in this model. Future experiments knocking down other isoforms to reduce further total transglutaminase activity will be needed to see the phenotype due to complete elimination of transglutaminase and CST. Increases in TG2 levels and activity between 5 weeks and 5 months of age (Figure 8) suggested that TG2 and stable MTs play a role in neuronal maturation. Earlier studies indicated that microtubule stability increased with axonal maturation and myelination (Kirkpatrick and Brady, 1994), ∼2 weeks postnatal in mouse.