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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Pull-down of Calmodulin-binding Proteins
Published on: January 23, 2012
Spinal cord ischemia reduces calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase activity
A Kochhar1, T Saitoh, J A Zivin
1Department of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093.
Abstract:
Calcium/calmodulin (Ca2+/CaM)-dependent protein phosphorylation was evaluated in a rabbit spinal cord ischemia model. One hour of ischemia reduced particulate (5% of control) and cytosolic (35% of control) Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase activity significantly (p less than 0.01). In vitro phosphorylation of endogenous proteins by endogenous Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase showed that phosphorylation of 14 particulate and 7 cytosolic proteins was stimulated in the presence of Ca2+/CaM in control tissue. However, after 1 hour of ischemia, Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein phosphorylation was virtually absent in the particulate fraction and significantly reduced in the cytosol. When equal amounts of control and ischemic tissue samples were combined and assayed, Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase activity was 43% of control in particulate and 70% of control in cytosolic fractions. This suggests that reduced Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein phosphorylation is probably not due to the presence of an inhibitory activity in ischemic tissue. These results show that the Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein phosphorylation system is impaired after ischemia durations which cause irreversible damage. These altered phosphorylation reactions may play critical roles in mediating irreversible neurologic injury.
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