Decreased hippocampal cholinergic neurostimulating peptide precursor protein associated with stress exposure in rat brain by proteomic analysis.

The stress response alters behavior, autonomic function, and secretion of multiple hormones, including corticotropin-releasing factor, adrenocorticotropin hormone, and cortisol, through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Constitutive stress responses lead to a number of psychiatric disorders, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other anxiety disorders through increased stress hormones and other unknown factors. Here, we performed a proteomic analysis of rat brain exposed to restraint stress compared with a nonstress group by using 2D-DIGE and MALDI-TOF analysis. Several proteins were identified by peptide mass fingerprint (PMF), including down-regulated hippocampal cholinergic neurostimulating peptide precursor protein (HCNP-pp). The current study demonstrates that HCNP-pp mRNA and protein expression are decreased in rat hippocampus after stress exposure. The level of HCNP-pp in H19-7, a rat hippocampal cell line, significantly decreases with dexamethasone treatment, a synthetic glucocorticoid. Thus, this finding suggests that HCNP-pp expression may decrease in response to stress exposure. Decreased HCNP-pp from stress exposure may result in lower levels of HCNP that might contribute to a loss of acetylcholine production.