Neuroglycan C, a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, overcomes the abnormal behavior induced by administration of some drugs?

神经聚糖C（NGC）是一种硫酸软骨素蛋白聚糖，主要在脑中表达。为了阐明NGC在大脑发育中的作用，我们产生了三种NGC基因突变小鼠，包括NGC敲除（NGC KO）小鼠，这些小鼠完全缺乏NGC的所有剪接变体。已有研究表明，某些精神药物的行为敏化与NGC基因表达的上调或下调有关。因此，我们采用旷场实验研究了几种精神兴奋剂与NGC-KO小鼠行为的关系。正如预期的那样，NGC-KO小鼠与野生小鼠相比表现出不同的行为。连同在旷场试验中在NGC-KO小鼠中观察到的活动过度，NGC-KO小鼠可以被评价为注意力缺陷/活动过度障碍（ADHD）的动物模型。为探讨ADHD的发病机制，采用双向凝胶电泳技术研究了甲基苯丙胺（methamphetamine）对NGC-KO小鼠和野生小鼠大脑皮质蛋白质谱的影响。作为阐明NGC作用的另一个尝试，我们对NGC结合蛋白进行了研究，发现多效生长因子是一种NGC结合蛋白。

Neuroglycan C(NGC), a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, is predominantly expressed in the brain. To clarify the roles of NGC in the brain development, we generated three strains of NGC-gene mutant mice, including NGC-knockout(NGC-KO) mice that are completely deficient in all splice variants of NGC. It has been reported that the behavioral sensitization to some psychotropic drugs is associated with up-and down-regulation of NGC gene expression. So we have investigated the relationship of several psychostimulants and the behavior of NGC-KO mice using the open field test. As expected, NGC-KO mice showed different behavior compared with wild mice. Together with that hyperactivity was observed in NGC-KO mice in the open field test, NGC-KO mice may be evaluated as an animal model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). To make the mechanism of ADHD clear, the changes of protein patterns in the cerebral cortex of NGC-KO and wild mice were examined using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis after the administration of methamphetamine, a psychostimulant. A protein which may be related to hyperactivity induced by methamphetamine was found. As another trial for clarifying the roles of NGC, we studied the binding proteins and found that pleiotrophin was a NGC-binding protein.