Lasting N-Terminal Phosphorylation of c-Jun and Activation of c-Jun N-Terminal Kinases after Neuronal Injury

Transcription factor c-Jun is proposed to control neuronal cell death and survival, but its activation by N-terminal phosphorylation and the underlying activity of the c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) remain to be elucidated in the adult mammalian brain. We generated a polyclonal antiserum that specifically recognizes c-Jun phosphorylated at its serine 73 (S73) residue after UV irradiation of 3T3 cells. Disruption of the c-jun locus in 3T3 cells abolished this reaction, and retransfection of the human c-jun at the c-jun-/- background restored it. The phospho-c-Jun antiserum was used to visualize N-terminally phosphorylated c-Jun in the adult rat brain with cellular resolution. Prolonged c-Jun S73 phosphorylation was detected in affected neurons up to 5 d after transient occlusion of medial cerebral artery or up to 50 d after transection of central nerve fiber tracts. After cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, phosphorylation of c-Jun was linked with induced expression of Fas-ligand (APO-1, CD95-ligand), whose gene is a putative c-Jun/AP-1 target, and with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) reactivity, a marker for apoptosis. After nerve fiber transection, however, lasting c-Jun phosphorylation occurred in axotomized neurons negative for Fas-ligand or TUNEL and regardless of degeneration or survival. In contrast to these lasting phosphorylation patterns, transient seizure activity by pentylenetetrazole provoked only a brief c-Jun phosphorylation and JNK activation. In extracts from ischemic or axotomized brain compartments, c-Jun phosphorylation correlated with enhanced long-term JNK activity, and in-gel kinase assays visualized proteins with sizes corresponding to JNK isoforms as the only c-Jun N-terminally phosphorylating enzymes. These results demonstrate that lasting c-Jun S73 phosphorylation and JNK activity are part of neuronal stress response after neurodegenerative disorders in the adult mammalian brain with Fas-ligand as a putative apoptotic effector.