Calpain-mediated degradation of PSD-95 in developing and adult rat brain

PSD-95 is a major postsynaptic density protein that is degraded as a result of synaptic activity. We used four different methods to test the hypothesis that calpain is involved in PSD-95 turnover. Treatment of synaptic membranes with purified calpain resulted in a decrease in immunoreactivity of the native 95 kDa protein and the appearance of two smaller molecular weight species, migrating at 50 and 36 kDa, respectively. Calcium treatment of frozen-thawed brain sections produced an identical digestion pattern, an effect blocked by calpain inhibitors. N-methyl-D-aspartate treatment of organotypic hippocampal cultures produced truncation of PSD-95 and accumulation of the 36 kDa species. Finally, calpain-generated degradation products of PSD95 were prominent in neonatal hippocampus, and disappeared with postnatal development. Our data suggest that PSD-95 is a substrate for calpain, and that calpain-mediated truncation contributes to PSD-95 turnover.