Neuroscience
Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with devastating clinical manifestations. In PD, neuronal death is associated with intracellular aggregates of the neuronal protein α-synuclein known as Lewy bodies. Although the cause of sporadic PD is not well understood, abundant clinical and pathological evidence show that misfolded α-synuclein is found in enteric nerves before it appears in the brain. This suggests a model in which PD pathology originates in the gut and spreads to the central nervous system via cell-to-cell prion-like propagation, such that transfer of misfolded α-synuclein initiates misfolding of native α-synuclein in recipient cells. We recently discovered that enteroendocrine cells (EECs), which are part of the gut epithelium and directly face the gut lumen, also possess many neuron-like properties and connect to enteric nerves. In this report, we demonstrate that α-synuclein is expressed in the EEC line, STC-1, and native EECs of mouse and human intestine. Furthermore, α-synuclein–containing EECs directly connect to α-synuclein–containing nerves, forming a neural circuit between the gut and the nervous system in which toxins or other environmental influences in the gut lumen could affect α-synuclein folding in the EECs, thereby beginning a process by which misfolded α-synuclein could propagate from the gut epithelium to the brain.
Authors
Rashmi Chandra, Annie Hiniker, Yien-Ming Kuo, Robert L. Nussbaum, Rodger A. Liddle
Abstract
Microglia play a critical role in the development and homeostasis of the CNS. While mobilization of microglia is critical for a number of pathologies, understanding of the mechanisms of their migration in vivo is limited and often based on similarities to macrophages. Kindlin3 deficiency as well as Kindlin3 mutations of integrin-binding sites abolish both integrin inside-out and outside-in signaling in microglia, thereby resulting in severe deficiencies in cell adhesion, polarization, and migration in vitro, which are similar to the defects observed in macrophages. In contrast, while Kindlin3 mutations impaired macrophage mobilization in vivo, they had no effect either on the population of microglia in the CNS during development or on mobilization of microglia and subsequent microgliosis in a model of multiple sclerosis. At the same time, acute microglial response to laser-induced injury was impaired by the lack of Kindlin3-integrin interactions. Based on 2-photon imaging of microglia in the brain, Kindlin3 is required for elongation of microglial processes toward the injury site and formation of phagosomes in response to brain injury. Thus, while Kindlin3 deficiency in human subjects is not expected to diminish the presence of microglia within CNS, it might delay the recovery process after injury, thereby exacerbating its complications.
Authors
Julia Meller, Zhihong Chen, Tejasvi Dudiki, Rebecca M. Cull, Rakhilya Murtazina, Saswat K. Bal, Elzbieta Pluskota, Samantha Stefl, Edward F. Plow, Bruce D. Trapp, Tatiana V. Byzova
Abstract
Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is the most common progressive nontraumatic spinal cord injury. The most common recommended treatment is surgical decompression, although the optimal timing of intervention is an area of ongoing debate. The primary objective of this study was to assess whether a delay in decompression could influence the extent of ischemia-reperfusion injury and alter the trajectory of outcome in DCM. Using a DCM mouse model, we show that decompression acutely led to a 1.5- to 2-fold increase in levels of inflammatory cytokines within the spinal cord. Delayed decompression was associated with exacerbated reperfusion injury, astrogliosis, and poorer neurological recovery. Additionally, delayed decompression was associated with prolonged elevation of inflammatory cytokines and an exacerbated peripheral monocytic inflammatory response (P < 0.01 and 0.001). In contrast, early decompression led to resolution of reperfusion-mediated inflammation, neurological improvement, and reduced hyperalgesia. Similar findings were observed in subjects from the CSM AOSpine North America and International studies, where delayed decompressive surgery resulted in poorer neurological improvement compared with patients with an earlier intervention. Our data demonstrate that delayed surgical decompression for DCM exacerbates reperfusion injury and is associated with ongoing enhanced levels of cytokine expression, microglia activation, and astrogliosis, and paralleled with poorer neurological recovery.
Authors
Pia M. Vidal, Spyridon K. Karadimas, Antigona Ulndreaj, Alex M. Laliberte, Lindsay Tetreault, Stefania Forner, Jian Wang, Warren D. Foltz, Michael G. Fehlings
Abstract
Many extremely preterm infants (born before 28 gestational weeks [GWs]) develop cognitive impairment in later life, although the underlying pathogenesis is not yet completely understood. Our examinations of the developing human neocortex confirmed that neuronal migration continues beyond 23 GWs, the gestational week at which extremely preterm infants have live births. We observed larger numbers of ectopic neurons in the white matter of the neocortex in human extremely preterm infants with brain injury and hypothesized that altered neuronal migration may be associated with cognitive impairment in later life. To confirm whether preterm brain injury affects neuronal migration, we produced brain damage in mouse embryos by occluding the maternal uterine arteries. The mice showed delayed neuronal migration, ectopic neurons in the white matter, altered neuronal alignment, and abnormal corticocortical axonal wiring. Similar to human extremely preterm infants with brain injury, the surviving mice exhibited cognitive deficits. Activation of the affected medial prefrontal cortices of the surviving mice improved working memory deficits, indicating that decreased neuronal activity caused the cognitive deficits. These findings suggest that altered neuronal migration altered by brain injury might contribute to the subsequent development of cognitive impairment in extremely preterm infants.
Authors
Ken-ichiro Kubo, Kimiko Deguchi, Taku Nagai, Yukiko Ito, Keitaro Yoshida, Toshihiro Endo, Seico Benner, Wei Shan, Ayako Kitazawa, Michihiko Aramaki, Kazuhiro Ishii, Minkyung Shin, Yuki Matsunaga, Kanehiro Hayashi, Masaki Kakeyama, Chiharu Tohyama, Kenji F. Tanaka, Kohichi Tanaka, Sachio Takashima, Masahiro Nakayama, Masayuki Itoh, Yukio Hirata, Barbara Antalffy, Dawna D. Armstrong, Kiyofumi Yamada, Ken Inoue, Kazunori Nakajima
Abstract
Motor dysfunction is a prominent and disabling feature of Huntington’s disease (HD), but the molecular mechanisms that dictate its onset and progression are unknown. The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2A (NR2A) subunit regulates motor skill development and synaptic plasticity in medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the striatum, cells that are most severely impacted by HD. Here, we document reduced NR2A receptor subunits on the dendritic membranes and at the synapses of MSNs in zQ175 mice that model HD. We identify that SorCS2, a vacuolar protein sorting 10 protein–domain (VPS10P-domain) receptor, interacts with VPS35, a core component of retromer, thereby regulating surface trafficking of NR2A in MSNs. In the zQ175 striatum, SorCS2 is markedly decreased in an age- and allele-dependent manner. Notably, SorCS2 selectively interacts with mutant huntingtin (mtHTT), but not WT huntingtin (wtHTT), and is mislocalized to perinuclear clusters in striatal neurons of human HD patients and zQ175 mice. Genetic deficiency of SorCS2 accelerates the onset and exacerbates the motor coordination deficit of zQ175 mice. Together, our results identify SorCS2 as an interacting protein of mtHTT and demonstrate that impaired SorCS2-mediated NR2A subunit trafficking to dendritic surface of MSNs is, to our knowledge, a novel mechanism contributing to motor coordination deficits of HD.
Authors
Qian Ma, Jianmin Yang, Teresa A. Milner, Jean-Paul G. Vonsattel, Mary Ellen Palko, Lino Tessarollo, Barbara L. Hempstead
Abstract
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by an excess accumulation of hepatic triglycerides, is a growing health epidemic. While ER stress in the liver has been implicated in the development of NAFLD, the role of brain ER stress — which is emerging as a key contributor to a number of chronic diseases including obesity — in NAFLD remains unclear. These studies reveal that chemical induction of ER stress in the brain caused hepatomegaly and hepatic steatosis in mice. Conversely, pharmacological reductions in brain ER stress in diet-induced obese mice rescued NAFLD independent of body weight, food intake, and adiposity. Evaluation of brain regions involved revealed robust activation of ER stress biomarkers and ER ultrastructural abnormalities in the circumventricular subfornical organ (SFO), a nucleus situated outside of the blood-brain-barrier, in response to high-fat diet. Targeted reductions in SFO-ER stress in obese mice via SFO-specific supplementation of the ER chaperone 78-kDa glucose–regulated protein ameliorated hepatomegaly and hepatic steatosis without altering body weight, food intake, adiposity, or obesity-induced hypertension. Overall, these findings indicate a novel role for brain ER stress, notably within the SFO, in the pathogenesis of NAFLD.
Authors
Julie A. Horwath, Chansol Hurr, Scott D. Butler, Mallikarjun Guruju, Martin D. Cassell, Allyn L. Mark, Robin L. Davisson, Colin N. Young
Abstract
We lack a mechanistic explanation for the stereotyped pattern of white matter loss seen in Huntington’s disease (HD). While the earliest white matter changes are seen around the striatum, within the corpus callosum, and in the posterior white matter tracts, the order in which these changes occur and why these white matter connections are specifically vulnerable is unclear. Here, we use diffusion tractography in a longitudinal cohort of individuals yet to develop clinical symptoms of HD to identify a hierarchy of vulnerability, where the topological length of white matter connections between a brain area and its neighbors predicts the rate of atrophy over 24 months. This demonstrates a new principle underlying neurodegeneration in HD, whereby brain connections with the greatest topological length are the first to suffer damage that can account for the stereotyped pattern of white matter loss observed in premanifest HD.
Authors
Peter McColgan, Kiran K. Seunarine, Sarah Gregory, Adeel Razi, Marina Papoutsi, Jeffrey D. Long, James A. Mills, Eileanoir Johnson, Alexandra Durr, Raymund A.C. Roos, Blair R. Leavitt, Julie C. Stout, Rachael I. Scahill, Chris A. Clark, Geraint Rees, Sarah J. Tabrizi, the Track-On HD Investigators
Abstract
Authors
Shadab A. Rahman, Melissa A. St. Hilaire, Anne-Marie Chang, Nayantara Santhi, Jeanne F. Duffy, Richard E. Kronauer, Charles A. Czeisler, Steven W. Lockley, Elizabeth B. Klerman
Abstract
Authors
Martin Niethammer, Chris C. Tang, Peter A. LeWitt, Ali R. Rezai, Maureen A. Leehey, Steven G. Ojemann, Alice W. Flaherty, Emad N. Eskandar, Sandra K. Kostyk, Atom Sarkar, Mustafa S. Siddiqui, Stephen B. Tatter, Jason M. Schwalb, Kathleen L. Poston, Jaimie M. Henderson, Roger M. Kurlan, Irene H. Richard, Christine V. Sapan, David Eidelberg, Matthew J. During, Michael G. Kaplitt, Andrew Feigin
Abstract
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) causes high mortality and morbidity, but our knowledge of post-ICH neuronal death and related mechanisms is limited. In this study, we first demonstrated that ferroptosis, a newly identified form of cell death, occurs in the collagenase-induced ICH model in mice. We found that administration of ferrostatin-1, a specific inhibitor of ferroptosis, prevented neuronal death and reduced iron deposition induced by hemoglobin in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs). Mice treated with ferrostatin-1 after ICH exhibited marked brain protection and improved neurologic function. Additionally, we found that ferrostatin-1 reduced lipid reactive oxygen species production and attenuated the increased expression level of
Authors
Qian Li, Xiaoning Han, Xi Lan, Yufeng Gao, Jieru Wan, Frederick Durham, Tian Cheng, Jie Yang, Zhongyu Wang, Chao Jiang, Mingyao Ying, Raymond C. Koehler, Brent R. Stockwell, Jian Wang
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