Protein profiling of rat cerebella during development

Protein profiles of developing rat cerebella were analyzed by means of two- dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry (MS). The anal ysis of adult rat cerebellum gave rise to a protein map comprising similar to 3000 spots detectable by silver staining following high resolution 2-DE with a pH range of 3-10 and a mass range of 8-100 kDa. To obtain landmarks for comparison of developmental profiles of cerebellar proteins, 100 spots were subjected to peptide mass fingerprinting using matrix-assisted laser d esorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and 6 7 spots were assigned on the map. Analysis of profiles of the developing ce rebella revealed significant changes in the expression of proteins during d evelopment. In most cases the expression levels of proteins increased as th e cerebellum matured, white the expression of 42 spots appeared specific or remarkably abundant in the immature cerebellum. Peptide mass fingerprintin g of these spots allowed us to identify 29 proteins, which include, in addi tion to proteins of unknown function, many proteins known to have roles in the development of the central nervous system. These results suggest that t he proteomic approach is valuable for mass identification of proteins invok ed in cerebellar morphogenesis.