Proteoglycans: distribution of gene and protein expressions in brain sites and age-related variations

• Grant number: 21/02771-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: May 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Suely Kazue Nagahashi Marie
• Grantee: Paula Yuki Nomiyama
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/02988-7 - Decoding the impact of microenvironment and signaling pathways in health and disease in brain, adrenal gland and kidney, AP.TEM

Abstract

The proteoglycans represent an important class of molecules localized in the extracellular matrix, which are responsible for several functions encompassing the regulation of physiological and pathological mechanisms. The focus of this research project is to study the proteoglycans and hyaluronic acid-associated proteins in the human brain extracellular matrix and the distribution of their expressions in distinct brain sites, as well as age-related variations. Firstly, the analysis will be done in silico with data from public databases, evaluating the significant variations by brain site and age. Then, the validation of the results will be done using samples of human brain tissues collected from autopsies of the biorepository of the Laboratory of Medical Investigations of the Department of Neurology (LIM15). The validation of brain site distribution will be done by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray built from samples of distinct sites extracted from brain samples of the autopsies of 5 donators. The validation of the age-differential expression of the selected proteoglycans will be done by real-time PCR in 108 samples of the superior parietal lobe collected from autopsies of donators with ages from 34 to 98. The selected targets in this step will be validated as for protein expression by Western Blotting. We believe that there are brain site-differential distribution and age-related variation of the expression of proteoglycans in the brain extracellular matrix.