SNAREs-related pathways in rat brains under simulated microgravity environment

The mechanisms of microgravity effect on the nervous system are largely unknown, but understanding such mechanism becomes increasingly important as space exploration continues and mission duration increases. Rat tail suspension experiment is a common method to simulate the microgravity effect. In this study, the tail suspension model was established firstly. Then the O ¹⁸-labeling quantitative proteomic strategy was applied to detect the differentially expressed proteins in rats' brain striatum. 106 proteins with various functional characteristics were identified. By GO classification, many brain protein classes, like metabolism enzymes, cytoskeleton proteins, antioxidant proteins, signaling proteins, neuron-specific proteins and glia-associated proteins were found. Using the KOBAS server, many enriched pathways, such as SNAREs, MAPK signaling pathway, Calcium signaling pathway were identified. Among them, the syntaxin, SNAP-25 and VAMP were core components of SNAREs complex, which was the minimal vesicles of membrane fusion and played a key role in synapse plasticity. The alteration of the SNAREs-related proteins may further explain the effects of microgravity on learning and memory function.