[The expression of glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) in mouse brain during early development]

The development of a multicellular organism results from the selective expression of genes and the maturation of proteins is dependent on molecular chaperons. However, the functions of molecular chaperones, especially endoplasmic reticulum chaperones, on brain development are unclear. In this article we examined the distribution and level of GRP78 in mouse brain during early development by means of Western blot, RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrated that the expression of GRP78 was in a time-space specific pattern. High levels of GRP78 were present in early embryo stage, and were decreased during the fetal period, increased gradually during postnatal development, and reached adult mouse after one week. In addition, the expression of GPR78 displayed the levels in tendency to decrease from telencephalon to metencephalon during embryonic period. The distribution for GRP78 appeared to be present earlier in neurons than in glial cells. These results suggested that GRP78 might play a significant role in the early morphogenesis of brain.