Probing the Effect of Acidosis on Tether-Mode Mechanotransduction of Proprioceptors.

Proprioceptors are low-threshold mechanoreceptors involved in perceiving body position and strain bearing. However, the physiological response of proprioceptors to fatigue- and muscle-acidosis-related disturbances remains unknown. Here, we employed whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to probe the effect of mild acidosis on the mechanosensitivity of the proprioceptive neurons of dorsal root ganglia (DRG) in mice. We cultured neurite-bearing parvalbumin-positive (Pv+) DRG neurons on a laminin-coated elastic substrate and examined mechanically activated currents induced through substrate deformation-driven neurite stretch (SDNS). The SDNS-induced inward currents (ISDNS) were indentation depth-dependent and significantly inhibited by mild acidification (pH 7.2~6.8). The acid-inhibiting effect occurred in neurons with an ISDNS sensitive to APETx2 (an ASIC3-selective antagonist) inhibition, but not in those with an ISNDS resistant to APETx2. Detailed subgroup analyses revealed ISDNS was expressed in 59% (25/42) of Parvalbumin-positive (Pv+) DRG neurons, 90% of which were inhibited by APETx2. In contrast, an acid (pH 6.8)-induced current (IAcid) was expressed in 76% (32/42) of Pv+ DRG neurons, 59% (21/32) of which were inhibited by APETx2. Together, ASIC3-containing channels are highly heterogenous and differentially contribute to the ISNDS and IAcid among Pv+ proprioceptors. In conclusion, our findings highlight the importance of ASIC3-containing ion channels in the physiological response of proprioceptors to acidic environments.

Acid-sensing ion channels: dual function proteins for chemo-sensing and mechano-sensing.

BACKGROUND: Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are a group of amiloride-sensitive ligand-gated ion channels belonging to the family of degenerin/epithelial sodium channels. ASICs are predominantly expressed in both the peripheral and central nervous system and have been characterized as potent proton sensors to detect extracellular acidification in the periphery and brain. MAIN BODY: Here we review the recent studies focusing on the physiological roles of ASICs in the nervous system. As the major acid-sensing membrane proteins in the nervous system, ASICs detect tissue acidosis occurring at tissue injury, inflammation, ischemia, stroke, and tumors as well as fatiguing muscle to activate pain-sensing nerves in the periphery and transmit pain signals to the brain. Arachidonic acid and lysophosphocholine have been identified as endogenous non-proton ligands activating ASICs in a neutral pH environment. On the other hand, ASICs are found involved in the tether model mechanotransduction, in which the extracellular matrix and cytoplasmic cytoskeletons act like a gating-spring to tether the mechanically activated ion channels and thus transmit the stimulus force to the channels. Accordingly, accumulating evidence has shown ASICs play important roles in mechanotransduction of proprioceptors, mechanoreceptors and nociceptors to monitor the homoeostatic status of muscle contraction, blood volume, and blood pressure as well as pain stimuli. CONCLUSION: Together, ASICs are dual-function proteins for both chemosensation and mechanosensation involved in monitoring physiological homoeostasis and pathological signals.

Benchmarking of eight recurrent neural network variants for breath phase and adventitious sound detection on a self-developed open-access lung sound database-HF_Lung_V1.

A reliable, remote, and continuous real-time respiratory sound monitor with automated respiratory sound analysis ability is urgently required in many clinical scenarios-such as in monitoring disease progression of coronavirus disease 2019-to replace conventional auscultation with a handheld stethoscope. However, a robust computerized respiratory sound analysis algorithm for breath phase detection and adventitious sound detection at the recording level has not yet been validated in practical applications. In this study, we developed a lung sound database (HF_Lung_V1) comprising 9,765 audio files of lung sounds (duration of 15 s each), 34,095 inhalation labels, 18,349 exhalation labels, 13,883 continuous adventitious sound (CAS) labels (comprising 8,457 wheeze labels, 686 stridor labels, and 4,740 rhonchus labels), and 15,606 discontinuous adventitious sound labels (all crackles). We conducted benchmark tests using long short-term memory (LSTM), gated recurrent unit (GRU), bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM), bidirectional GRU (BiGRU), convolutional neural network (CNN)-LSTM, CNN-GRU, CNN-BiLSTM, and CNN-BiGRU models for breath phase detection and adventitious sound detection. We also conducted a performance comparison between the LSTM-based and GRU-based models, between unidirectional and bidirectional models, and between models with and without a CNN. The results revealed that these models exhibited adequate performance in lung sound analysis. The GRU-based models outperformed, in terms of F1 scores and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves, the LSTM-based models in most of the defined tasks. Furthermore, all bidirectional models outperformed their unidirectional counterparts. Finally, the addition of a CNN improved the accuracy of lung sound analysis, especially in the CAS detection tasks.

Author Correction: A Survival Metadata Analysis Responsive Tool (SMART) for web-based analysis of patient survival and risk.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

A Survival Metadata Analysis Responsive Tool (SMART) for web-based analysis of patient survival and risk.

Health information systems contain extensive amounts of patient data. Information relevant to public health and individuals' medical histories are both available. In clinical research, the prediction of patient survival rates and identification of prognosis factors are major challenges. To alleviate the difficulties related to these factors, Metadata Utilities was developed to help researchers manage column definitions and information such as import/query/generator Metadata files. These utilities also include an automatic update mechanism to ensure consistency between the data and parameters of the batch produced in the conversion procedure. Survival Metadata Analysis Responsive Tool (SMART) provides a comprehensive set of statistical tests that are easy to understand, including support for analyzing nominal variables, ordinal variables, interval variables or ratio variables as means, standard deviations, maximum values, minimum values, and percentages. In this article, the development of a raw data source and transfer mechanism, Extract-Transform-Load (ETL), is described for data cleansing, extraction, transformation and loading. We also built a handy method for data presentation, which can be customized to the trial design. As demonstrated here, SMART is useful for risk-adjusted baseline cohort and randomized controlled trials.

Involvement of TRPV1 and TDAG8 in Pruriception Associated with Noxious Acidosis.

Itch and pain are closely related but are distinct sensations. Intradermal injection of acid generates pain in both rodents and humans; however, few studies have addressed the intriguing question of whether acid (protons) can evoke itch like other algogens by spatial contrast activation of single nociceptors. Here, we report that (i) citric acid (0.2 mol/L) pH-dependently induced a scratching response in mice when applied intradermally to nape or cheek skin, (ii) acidified buffer elevated intracellular calcium levels in dorsal root ganglion pruriceptors, and (iii) injection of intradermal citric acid (pH 3.0) into the nape induced a pruritogen-like but not algogen-like c-Fos immunoreactivity pattern in the cervical spinal cord. Using pharmacological and genetic approaches, we identified potential acid-sensing channels/receptors involved in acidic citrate-evoked itch. Results indicate that TRPV1, but neither ASIC3 nor TRPA1, is involved in the acidic citrate-induced scratching response. Furthermore, one of the proton-sensing G-protein-coupled receptors, TDAG8, was highly (∼71%) expressed in Nppb+ dorsal root ganglion pruriceptors. Itch induced by acidic citrate, but not α-methyl-5-hydroxytryptamine, chloroquine, compound 48/80, or bile acid, was markedly decreased in TDAG8-/- mice. In a heterologous expression system, TDAG8 potentiated the acid-induced calcium response by regulating TRPV1. Thus, protons could evoke pruriception by acting on TDAG8 to regulate TRPV1 activation with its mechanism of future therapeutic relevance.

Evidence for the involvement of ASIC3 in sensory mechanotransduction in proprioceptors.

Acid-sensing ion channel 3 (ASIC3) is involved in acid nociception, but its possible role in neurosensory mechanotransduction is disputed. We report here the generation of Asic3-knockout/eGFPf-knockin mice and subsequent characterization of heterogeneous expression of ASIC3 in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG). ASIC3 is expressed in parvalbumin (Pv+) proprioceptor axons innervating muscle spindles. We further generate a floxed allele of Asic3 (Asic3(f/f)) and probe the role of ASIC3 in mechanotransduction in neurite-bearing Pv+ DRG neurons through localized elastic matrix movements and electrophysiology. Targeted knockout of Asic3 disrupts spindle afferent sensitivity to dynamic stimuli and impairs mechanotransduction in Pv+ DRG neurons because of substrate deformation-induced neurite stretching, but not to direct neurite indentation. In behavioural tasks, global knockout (Asic3(-/-)) and Pv-Cre::Asic3(f/f) mice produce similar deficits in grid and balance beam walking tasks. We conclude that, at least in mouse, ASIC3 is a molecular determinant contributing to dynamic mechanosensitivity in proprioceptors.

Expression in Pichia pastoris and characterization of APETx2, a specific inhibitor of acid sensing ion channel 3.

Acid sensing ion channels (ASICs) are family of proteins predominantly present in the central and peripheral nervous system. They are known to play important roles in the pathophysiology of pain and ischemic stroke. APETx2 is a potent and selective inhibitor of ASIC3-containing channels and was isolated from sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. To facilitate the study on the molecular determinants of ASIC3-ligand interactions, we expressed recombinant APETx2 in the Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) expression system and purified it to homogeneity. Recombinant APETx2 produced in P. pastoris inhibited the acid-evoked ASIC3 current with the IC(50) value of 37.3 nM. The potency of recombinant toxin is similar to that of native APETx2. The sequential assignment and structure analysis of APETx2 were obtained by 2D and 3D (15)N-edited NMR spectra. Our NMR data suggests that APETx2 produced in P. pastoris retained its native fold. The results presented here provide the first direct evidence that highly disulfide bonded peptide inhibitor of ASIC3, APETx2, can be expressed in P. pastoris with correct fold and high yield. We also showed that the R17A mutant exhibited a decrease in activity, suggesting the feasibility of the use of this expression system to study the interactions between APETx2 and ASIC3. These evidences may serve as the basis for understanding the selectivity and activity of APETx2.

Probing localized neural mechanotransduction through surface-modified elastomeric matrices and electrophysiology.

Mechanotransduction of sensory neurons is of great interest to the scientific community, especially in areas such as pain, neurobiology, cardiovascular homeostasis and mechanobiology. We describe a method to investigate stretch-activated mechanotransduction in sensory nerves through subcellular stimulation. The method imposes localized mechanical stimulation through indentation of an elastomeric substrate and combines this mechanical stimulation with whole-cell patch clamp recording of the electrical response to single-nerve stretching. One significant advantage here is that the neurites are stretched with limited physical contact beyond their attachment to the polymer. When we imposed specific mechanical stimulation through the substrate, the stretched neurite fired and an action potential response was recorded. In addition, complementary protocols to control the molecules at the cell-substrate interface are presented. These techniques provide an opportunity to probe neurosensory mechanotransduction with a defined substrate, whose physical and molecular context can be modified to mimic physiologically relevant conditions. The entire process from fabrication to cellular recording takes 5 to 6 d.