Glutamate alteration of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) in GABAergic neurons: the role of cysteine proteases

Brain cell vulnerability to neurologic insults varies greatly, depending on their neuronal subpopulation. Among cells that survive a pathological insult such as ischemia or brain trauma, some may undergo morphological and/or biochemical changes that could compromise brain function. We previously reported that surviving cortical GABAergic neurons exposed to glutamate in vitro displayed an NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated alteration in the levels of the GABA synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65/67) [Monnerie, H., Le Roux, P., 2007. Reduced dendrite growth and altered glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) 65- and 67-kDa isoform protein expression from mouse cortical GABAergic neurons following excitotoxic injury in vitro. Exp. Neurol. 205, 367–382]. In this study, we examined the mechanisms by which glutamate excitotoxicity caused a change in cortical GABAergic neurons' GAD protein levels. Removing extracellular calcium prevented the NMDAR-mediated decrease in GAD protein levels, measured using Western blot techniques, whereas inhibiting calcium entry through voltage-gated calcium channels had no effect. Glutamate's effect on GAD protein isoforms was significantly attenuated by preincubation with the cysteine protease inhibitor N-Acetyl-l-Leucyl-l-Leucyl-l-norleucinal (ALLN). Using class-specific protease inhibitors, we observed that ALLN's effect resulted from the blockade of calpain and cathepsin protease activities. Cell-free proteolysis assay confirmed that both proteases were involved in glutamate-induced alteration in GAD protein levels. Together these results suggest that glutamate-induced excitotoxic stimulation of NMDAR in cultured cortical neurons leads to altered GAD protein levels from GABAergic neurons through intracellular calcium increase and protease activation including calpain and cathepsin. Biochemical alterations in surviving cortical GABAergic neurons in various disease states may contribute to the altered balance between excitation and inhibition that is often observed after injury.