Stress protein inductions after brain ischemia.

1. Hippocampal CA1 neurons are the most vulnerable to transient cerebral ischemia. However, the mechanism has not been fully understood. 2. The mRNAs for 72-kd (HSP72) and 73-kd (HSC73) heat shock proteins (HSPs), which are located mainly in the cytoplasm, were greatly induced together in CA1 cells, with a peak at 1-2 days in gerbils. However, immunoreactive HSP72 protein was only minimally expressed in CA1 neurons. 3. The mRNA for mitochondrial HSP60 began to increase at 3 hr in CA1 cells and was sustained until 1 day. 4. The level of mRNA for cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COX-I) progressively decreased in CA1 neurons after a transient ischemia and completely disappeared at 7 days. The activity of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) protein also showed an early decrease in CA1 cells and was followed by a reduction in the level of COX-I DNA after 2 days. 5. These results suggest that HSP gene inductions were inhibited at the translational level but that mitochondrial DNA expression was disturbed at the transcriptional level. A disturbance of mitochondrial DNA expression could cause progressive failure of energy production of CA1 cells that eventually results in neuronal cell death.