Modulation of hippocampal neuroplasticity by Fas/CD95 regulatory protein 2 (Faim2) in the course of bacterial meningitis.

ABSTRACT: Fas-apoptotic inhibitory molecule 2 (Faim2) is a neuron-specific membrane protein and a member of the evolutionary conserved lifeguard apoptosis regulatory gene family. Its neuroprotective effect in acute neurological diseases has been demonstrated in an in vivo model of focal cerebral ischemia. Here we show that Faim2 is physiologically expressed in the human brain with a changing pattern in cases of infectious meningoencephalitis.In Faim2-deficient mice, there was increased caspase-associated hippocampal apoptotic cell death and an increased extracellular signal-regulated kinase pattern during acute bacterial meningitis induced by subarachnoid infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3 strain. However, after rescuing the animals by antibiotic treatment, Faim2 deficiency led to increa

SUBMITTER: Tauber SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3978830 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature