Molecular regulation of the blood-brain barrier GLUT1 glucose transporter by brain-derived factors.

Glucose is the crucial metabolic fluid for the brain, and the transport of this nutrient from blood to brain is limited by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) GLUT1 glucose transporter. The activity of this transporter is altered in different pathophysiological conditions including Alzheimer's disease. The expression of the BBB-GLUT1 gene is directed by brain trophic factors, and the brain-derived peptide preparation Cerebrolysin (Cl, EBEWE, Austria), used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, increases the BBB-GLUT1 mRNA stability and the expression of the BBB-GLUT1 gene. In the present investigation, Cl markedly increased (p < 0.001) the expression of a BBB-GLUT1 reporter gene, named clone 753, that contains an important regulatory cis-acting element involved in the stabilization of this transcript in brain endothelial cultured cells (ECL). In experiments with a reporter gene lacking this regulatory element, Cl produced only a minimal fraction of the effect observed with clone 753. UV-cross linking/PAGE experiments showed that the GLUT1 transcript reacts with ECL cytosolic proteins to form a RNA/protein complex of approximately 80 kDa. The abundance of this cis/trans acting complex was found to be increased in Cl-treated cells. Overall, data presented here demonstrate that i) Cl increases the expression of a BBB-GLUT1-luciferase reporter gene containing a region of the 3'-untranslated region of BBB-GLUT1 mRNA with important regulatory cis-acting elements involved in the stabilization of this transcript, and ii) the increased expression of this BBB-GLUT1 reporter gene was associated with augmented abundance of a transacting factor that binds to the cis-acting element described in (i), suggesting that this association may be involved in the stabilization of GLUT1 mRNA induced by Cl.