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Induction and phosphorylation of the small heat shock proteins HspB1/Hsp25 and HspB5/αB-crystallin in the rat retina upon optic nerve injury

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Cell Stress and Chaperones Aims and scope

Abstract

Several eye diseases are associated with axonal injury in the optic nerve, which normally leads to degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and subsequently to loss of vision. There is experimental evidence that some members of the small heat shock protein family (HspBs) are upregulated upon optic nerve injury (ONI) in the retina and sufficient to promote RGC survival. These data raise the question as to whether other family members may play a similar role in this context. Here, we performed a comprehensive comparative study comprising all HspBs in an experimental model of ONI. We found that five HspBs were expressed in the adult rat retina at control conditions but only HspB1 and HspB5 were upregulated in response to ONI. Furthermore, HspB1 and HspB5 were constitutively phosphorylated in Müller cells at serine 15 and serine 59, respectively. In RGCs, phosphorylation was stimulated by ONI and occurred at serine 86 of HspB1 and at serine 19 and 45 of HspB5. These data suggest that of all small heat shock proteins, only HspB1 and HspB5 might be of protective value for RGCs after ONI and that this process might be regulated by phosphorylation at serine 86 of HspB1 and serine 19 and serine 45 of HspB5. The molecular targets of phosphoHspB1 and phosphoHspB5 remain to be identified.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Diana Reinhardt for her excellent technical assistance and the International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine (University of Ulm, Germany) of which Thomas Schmidt was a member.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Thomas Schmidt, Britta Bartelt-Kirbach & Nikola Golenhofen

  2. Department of Experimental Neurology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Dietmar Fischer & Anastasia Andreadaki

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  1. Thomas Schmidt
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  2. Dietmar Fischer
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Correspondence to Nikola Golenhofen.

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Schmidt, T., Fischer, D., Andreadaki, A. et al. Induction and phosphorylation of the small heat shock proteins HspB1/Hsp25 and HspB5/αB-crystallin in the rat retina upon optic nerve injury. Cell Stress and Chaperones 21, 167–178 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-015-0650-8

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