Recovery of chronic parkinsonian monkeys by autotransplants of carotid body cell aggregates into putamen.

We have studied the effect of unilateral autografts of carotid body cell aggregates into the putamen of MPTP-treated monkeys with chronic parkinsonism. Two to four weeks after transplantation, the monkeys initiated a progressive recovery of mobility with reduction of tremor and bradykinesia and restoration of fine motor abilities on the contralateral side. Apomorphine injections induced rotations toward the side of the transplant. Functional recovery was accompanied by the survival of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH-positive) grafted glomus cells. A high density of TH-immunoreactive fibers was seen reinnervating broad regions of the ipsilateral putamen and caudate nucleus. The nongrafted, contralateral striatum remained deafferented. Intrastriatal autografting of carotid body tissue is a feasible technique with beneficial effects on parkinsonian monkeys; thus, this therapeutic approach could also be applied to treat patients with Parkinson's disease.

Distribution of peptidyl-glycine alpha-amidating mono-oxygenase (PAM) enzymes in normal human lung and in lung epithelial tumors.

C-terminal alpha-amidation is a post-translational modification necessary for the biological activity of many regulatory peptides produced in the respiratory tract. This modification is a two-step process catalyzed by two separate enzyme activities, both derived from the peptidyl-glycine alpha-amidating mono-oxygenase (PAM) precursor. The distribution of these two enzymes, peptidyl-glycine alpha-hydroxylating monoxygenase (PHM) and peptidyl-alpha-hydroxyglycine a amidating lyase (PAL), was studied in the normal lung and in lung tumors using immunocytochemical methods and in situ hybridization. In normal lung the enzymes were located in some cells of the airway epithelium and glands, the endothelium of blood vessels, some chondrocytes of the bronchial cartilage, the alveolar macrophages, smooth muscle cells, neurons of the intrinsic ganglia, and in myelinated nerves. A total of 24 lung tumors of seven different histological types were studied. All cases contained PAM-immunoreactive cells with various patterns of distribution. All immunoreactive cells were positive for the PHM antiserum but only some of them for the PAL antiserum. The distribution of PAM co-localizes with some other previously described amidated peptides, suggesting that amidation is an important physiological process taking place in the normal and malignant human lung tissue.

Adrenomedullin expression and function in the rat carotid body.

Adrenomedullin (AM) immunoreactivity has been found in granules of the glomus (type I) cells of the carotid bodies in rats. The identity of these cells was ascertained by colocalization of immunoreactivities for AM and tyrosine hydroxylase in their cytoplasm. Exposure of freshly isolated carotid bodies to synthetic AM resulted in a concentration- and time-dependent degranulation of glomus cells as measured by dopamine (DA) release. DA release reached a zenith 30 min after exposure to AM (94.2% over untreated controls). At this time-point, the response to AM was similar to the one elicited by 5 min of exposure to 100 mM K+. Nevertheless, injection of 1 micro l 60 nM AM/g body weight into the tail vein of the rats did not induce statistical differences in DA release from the carotid bodies. Exposure of the oxygen-sensitive cell line PC-12 to hypoxia elicited an increase in AM mRNA expression and peptide secretion into serum-free conditioned medium. Previous data have shown that elevation of AM expression under hypoxia is mediated through hypoxia-inducible factor-1, and that exposure of chromaffin cells to AM results in degranulation. All these data suggest that AM is an important autocrine regulator of carotid body function.

[Dopaminergic system and neuronal death]. / Sistema dopaminérgico y muerte neuronal.

The mechanism involved in dopaminergic neuronal death remains unknown. Increased oxidative stress, inhibition of mitochondrial respiratory chain and apoptosis have been suggested as possible factors mediating cellular death. This article reviews the most important findings reported in parkinsonian brains related to nigral neuronal death.

[Mechanisms of cell death in Alzheimer's disease]. / Mecanismos de muerte celular en la enfermedad de Alzheimer.

Molecular mechanisms involved in neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer's disease remain still unknown. A toxic effect induced by beta amyloid, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity and alterations in signal transduction mechanisms are the main factors linked to neuronal death. In addition, it has been suggested that apoptosis may also participate as a part of the cascade of events resulting in neurodegeneration.

Expression of peptidyl-glycine alpha-amidating mono-oxygenase (PAM) enzymes in morphological abnormalities adjacent to pulmonary tumors.

Carboxyl-terminal amidated peptide hormones are known to be autocrine growth factors for lung tumors and tumor cell lines. Expression of the enzymes necessary for the biosynthesis of active amidated peptide hormones is therefore necessary for autocrine growth stimulation in lung tumors and possibly in the early proliferative stages of lung carcinogenesis. The peptidyl amidating enzymes have previously been identified in cell lines of all histological types of lung cancer and in lung tumors by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. In this study we analyzed the expression of the peptidyl amidating enzymes in histological abnormalities found in the proximity of pulmonary tumors from a series of 59 patients. Most of the lesions in both the proximal airways (basal cell hyperplasia, carcinoma in situ, and some squamous metaplasia) and the alveoli (type II cell hyperplasia, bronchiolization of the alveoli, atypical alveolar hyperplasia, and isolated atypias) had a high proportion of cells strongly positive for the peptidyl amidating enzymes. The intense expression of peptidyl amidating enzymes in type II cell hyperplasia and atypical alveolar cells, together with the high frequency of these abnormalities in the alveoli, which is an area that does not express these enzymes in normal lung, points to the involvement of peptide hormones in the growth biology of pulmonary tumors. These findings suggest that peptide hormone stimulation of mitogenesis is an early event in tumor progression and merits additional investigation as a target for early detection and chemo-intervention of lung carcinogenesis.

Serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor expression is selectively enhanced in the striosomal compartment of chronic parkinsonian monkeys.

Cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were chronically treated with the dopaminergic neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) until stable parkinsonism was reached. Two months later, monkeys were sacrificed and monoamine content was measured in different brain regions of the lesioned monkeys and of age-matched controls. 5-HT(1A) serotonin receptor density was measured in coronal sections labeled with [(3)H]8-OH-DPAT. As expected, dopamine was virtually nonexistent in the caudate nucleus and putamen of MPTP-treated monkeys. Serotonin levels were significantly reduced in different brain regions, particularly in the raphe nuclei. 5-HT(1A) receptor density of control animals was high in the hippocampus, notably in the CA1 field and also in the raphe nuclei, and much lower in the striatum, where 5-HT(1A) receptors showed a patchy distribution which corresponded to striosomes with poor calbindin immunostaining. 5-HT(1A) receptor density was reduced in hippocampal fields and in the raphe nuclei of parkinsonian monkeys. Conversely, in the severely lesioned striatal nuclei 5-HT(1A) receptor density was increased at caudal levels of the striatum, particularly in the putamen. The results tend to support the possibility of an increased synthesis of 5-HT(1A) receptors in brain regions with higher neuronal cell death. Upregulation of this 5-HT receptor subtype in the limbic compartment of the striatum may represent a compensatory event for the serotonergic dysfunction and associated mental disorders in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson disease.