Cerebral ischemia decreases endogenous calcium-dependent protein phosphorylation in gerbil brain

Acute forebrain ischemia in the gerbil produced a significant decrease in endogenous Ca2+-dependent hippocampal protein phosphorylation in comparison to sham and naive control animals. Inhibition of Ca2+-dependent phosphorylation was demonstrated as early as 2 h post-ischemia and shown to persist up to 7 days following the ischemic insult. The ischemia-induced loss of Ca2+-dependent phosphorylation was only seen in brain regions affected by the localized ischemia and not in non-ischemic brain regions from the same animal. These results suggest that an early event in the development of ischemia-induced neuronal death is a decrease in Ca2+-dependent protein phosphorylation.