Phospholipase C isozymes in the human brain and their changes in Alzheimer's disease.

Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C is a key enzyme in signal transduction. We have previously demonstrated that an isozyme of phospholipase C, phospholipase C-delta1, accumulates aberrantly in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, we examined the property of phospholipase C isozymes in human brains using the methods of chromatofocusing and gel filtration chromatography, and investigated their changes in Alzheimer's disease brains. The chromatofocusing profile of human brain phospholipase C activity on a Mono P HR column demonstrated that phospholipase C-gamma1, exhibiting an isoelectric point value of 5.2, and phospholipase C-delta1, exhibiting isoelectric point values of 5.2 and 4.6, are partly overlapped in their elution. In contrast, the elution profiles of control and Alzheimer's disease brain phospholipase C on Superdex 200 pg column gel filtration chromatography indicated that phospholipase C-gamma1 and phospholipase C-delta1 can be separated with the elution position having a molecular weight of about 240,000 and 140,000, respectively, in the human brain. Using this gel filtration chromatography it was revealed that the phospholipase C-gamma1 activity was significantly decreased and the phospholipase C-delta1 activity was significantly increased in Alzheimer's disease brains compared with controls. These results suggest that the phospholipase C isozymes are differentially involved in Alzheimer's disease.