MTH1, an oxidized purine nucleoside triphosphatase, suppresses the accumulation of oxidative damage of nucleic acids in the hippocampal microglia during kainate-induced excitotoxicity.

Enhanced oxidative stress has been implicated in the excitotoxicity of the CNS, and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-guanine (8-oxoG), a major type of oxidative damage in nucleic acids, was reported to be accumulated in the rat hippocampus after kainate administration. We herein showed that the 8-oxoG levels in mitochondrial DNA and cellular RNA increased significantly in the CA3 subregion of the mouse hippocampus 6-12 h after kainate administration but returned to basal levels within a few days. Laser-scanning confocal microscopy revealed the 8-oxoG accumulation in mitochondrial DNA to be remarkable in CA3 microglia, whereas that in nuclear DNA or cellular RNA was also detected in the CA3 pyramidal cells and astrocytes. 8-oxoG accumulation in cellular DNA or RNA should be suppressed by MutT homolog 1 (MTH1) with 8-oxo-dGTPase (8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine triphosphatase) activity and 8-oxoG-DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1) with 8-oxoG DNA glycosylase activity. We thus examined the expression level of MTH1 and OGG1 in the mouse hippocampus after kainate administration. The Mth1 mRNA level decreased soon after kainate administration and then quickly recovered beyond the basal level, and a continuously increased MTH1 protein level was observed, whereas the Ogg1 mRNA level remained constant. MTH1-null and wild-type mice exhibited a similar degree of CA3 neuron loss after kainate administration; however, the 8-oxoG levels that accumulated in mitochondrial DNA and cellular RNA in the CA3 microglia significantly increased in the MTH1-null mice in comparison with wild-type mice, thus demonstrating that MTH1 efficiently suppresses the accumulation of 8-oxoG in both cellular DNA and RNA in the hippocampus, especially in microglia, caused by excitotoxicity.