Differential expression of ADAM15 and ADAM17 metalloproteases in the rat brain after severe hypobaric hypoxia and hypoxic preconditioning.

The ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) are a family of membrane-anchored glycoproteins capable of shedding a multitude of proteins from the cell surface. Although ADAMs are being considered as crucial modulators of physiological and pathophysiological processes, their roles in neuronal death/survival are largely unexplored. In the present study, changes in brain expression of ADAM15 and ADAM17 (TACE) have been quantitatively examined in rats in response to injurious severe hypoxia (SH) and in animals which acquired hypoxic tolerance through preconditioning to mild hypoxia prior SH.