2. Academic Validation
  3. Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) is a neurosteroid receptor

Microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) is a neurosteroid receptor

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Mar 21;103(12):4711-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0600113103.
Virginie Fontaine-Lenoir 1,  Béatrice Chambraud,  Arlette Fellous,  Sébastien David,  Yann Duchossoy,  Etienne-Emile Baulieu,  Paul Robel
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 MAPREG Company, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bicêtre, Bâtiment Paul Langevin, 78 Rue du Général Leclerc, 94275 Le Kremlin Bicêtre Cedex, France.
PMID: 16537405 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0600113103
Abstract

The neurosteroid pregnenolone (PREG) and its chemically synthesized analog 3beta-methoxypregnenolone (MePREG) bind to microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and stimulate the polymerization of microtubules. PREG, MePREG, and progesterone (PROG; the physiological immediate metabolite of PREG) significantly enhance neurite outgrowth of nerve growth factor-pretreated PC12 cells. However, PROG, although it binds to MAP2, does not increase the immunostaining of MAP2, contrary to PREG and MePREG. Nocodazole, a microtubule-disrupting agent, induces a major retraction of neurites in control cultures, but pretreatment with PREG/MePREG is protective. Decreasing MAP2 expression by RNA interference does not modify PROG action, but it prevents the stimulatory effects of PREG and MePREG on neurite extension, showing that MAP2 is their specific receptor.

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