Analysis of the trajectory of osteoarthritis development in a mouse model by serial near-infrared fluorescence imaging of matrix metalloproteinase activities.

OBJECTIVE: A major hurdle in osteoarthritis (OA) research is the lack of sensitive detection and monitoring methods. It is hypothesized that proteases, such as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), are up-regulated in the early stages of OA development. This study was undertaken to investigate if a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe activated by MMPs could visualize in vivo OA progression beginning in the early stages of the disease. METHODS: Using an MMP-activatable NIR fluorescent probe (MMPSense 680), we assessed the up-regulation of MMP activity in vitro by incubating human chondrocytes with the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). MMP activity was then evaluated in vivo serially in a mouse model of chronic, injury-induced OA. To track MMP activity over time, mice were imaged 1-8 weeks after OA-inducing surgery. Imaging results were correlated with histologic findings. RESULTS: In vitro studies confirmed that NIR fluorescence imaging identified enhanced MMP activity in IL-1ß-treated human chondrocytes. In vivo imaging showed significantly higher fluorescence intensity in OA knees compared to sham-operated (control) knees of the same mice. Additionally, the total emitted fluorescence intensity steadily increased over the entire course of OA progression that was examined. NIR fluorescence imaging results correlated with histologic findings, which showed an increase in articular cartilage structural damage over time. CONCLUSION: Imaging of MMP activity in a mouse model of OA provides sensitive and consistent visualization of OA progression, beginning in the early stages of OA. In addition to facilitating the preclinical study of OA modulators, this approach has the potential for future translation to humans.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and its target genes are downstream effectors of FoxO1 protein in islet ß-cells: mechanism of ß-cell compensation and failure.

The molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways that drive islet ß-cell compensation and failure are not fully resolved. We have used in vitro and in vivo systems to show that FoxO1, an integrator of metabolic stimuli, inhibits PPARγ expression in ß-cells, thus transcription of its target genes (Pdx1, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor, and pyruvate carboxylase) that are important regulators of ß-cell function, survival, and compensation. FoxO1 inhibition of target gene transcription is normally relieved when upstream activation induces its translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Attesting to the central importance of this pathway, islet expression of PPARγ and its target genes was enhanced in nondiabetic insulin-resistant rats and markedly reduced with diabetes induction. Insight into the impaired PPARγ signaling with hyperglycemia was obtained with confocal microscopy of pancreas sections that showed an intense nuclear FoxO1 immunostaining pattern in the ß-cells of diabetic rats in contrast to the nuclear and cytoplasmic FoxO1 in nondiabetic rats. These findings suggest a FoxO1/PPARγ-mediated network acting as a core component of ß-cell adaptation to metabolic stress, with failure of this response from impaired FoxO1 activation causing or exacerbating diabetes.