Perchloric acid soluble protein (PSP), a member of the group of non-histone chromatin protein, consists of two identical subunits with a molecular mass of 14 kDa. It is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, reflecting its involvement in basic cellular regulation. It acts as an inhibitor for elongation step of protein synthesis. PSP expression has been reported to be tissue-specific, although it is predominantly present in liver and kidney cells. In this study, we report the expression of PSP in mice brain and compare it with liver. The expression of PSP was found to be much lower in brain than in liver, suggesting a tissue-dependent quantitative variation. The level of PSP mRNA was one-third and that of protein one-tenth in the brain as compared to the liver. Such discrepancy suggests that the brain PSP mRNA is less stable and its small fraction is translated leading to higher synthesis of other proteins in the brain.

doi: 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.2005.120203