BMAL1 positively correlates with genes regulating steroidogenesis in human luteinized granulosa cells.

In brief: In this study, we examined the relationship between BMAL1 expression and the genes regulating steroid biosynthesis in human luteinized granulosa cells. BMAL1 function is crucial for steroid production and proper ovarian function, highlighting the importance of circadian clock regulation in female reproductive health. Abstract: Human luteinized granulosa cells were collected to analyze circadian clock gene expression and its effect on the genes regulating steroid biosynthesis. We used siRNA to knock down the expression of BMAL1 in KGN cells. We measured the expression levels of genes regulating steroid biosynthesis and circadian clock RT-qPCR. We demonstrated that BMAL1 expression positively correlates with genes regulating steroid biosynthesis (CYP11A1, CYP19A1, STAR, and ESR2). The knockdown of BMAL1 in KGN cells revealed a significant decrease in steroid synthase expression. In contrast, when BMAL1 was overexpressed in KGN and HGL5 cells, we observed a significant increase in the expression of steroid synthases, such as CYP11A1 and CYP19A1. These results indicated that BMAL1 positively controls 17ß-estradiol (E2) secretion in granulosa cells. We also demonstrated that dexamethasone synchronization in KGN cells enhanced the rhythmic alterations in circadian clock genes. Our study suggests that BMAL1 plays a critical role in steroid biosynthesis in human luteinized granulosa cells, thereby emphasizing the importance of BMAL1 in the regulation of reproductive physiology.

Increase in extracellular dopamine levels during clozapine-induced potentiation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of chronically prepared rabbits.

We previously found that 20 mg/kg clozapine i.p. potentiated the excitatory synaptic responses elicited in the dentate gyrus by single electrical stimulation of the perforant path in chronically prepared rabbits. We called this phenomenon clozapine-induced potentiation and proved that it was an NMDA receptor-mediated event. This potentiation is presumably related to clozapine's clinical effect on negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia. In the present study, to investigate the mechanisms underlying clozapine-induced potentiation, we examined whether extracellular dopamine and 5-HT levels changed during the potentiation by using a microdialysis technique in the dentate gyrus. The extracellular concentrations of dopamine and 5-HT levels were measured every 5 min during all experiments. Extracellular 5-HT levels did not change, but dopamine levels eventually increased significantly during clozapine-induced potentiation. The increase in the dopamine levels occurred almost simultaneously with the induction of clozapine-induced potentiation. These results suggest that clozapine-induced potentiation is at least partly attributable to a dopamine-mediated potentiation of excitatory synaptic transmission. The present study implies that such phenomena occur also in the perforant path-dentate gyrus pathway.

Role of the SPIRAL1 gene family in anisotropic growth of Arabidopsis thaliana.

Arabidopsis spiral1 (spr1) mutants show a right-handed helical growth phenotype in roots and etiolated hypocotyls due to impaired directional growth of rapidly expanding cells. SPR1 encodes a small protein with as yet unknown biochemical functions, though its localization to cortical microtubules (MTs) suggests that SPR1 maintains directional cell expansion by regulating cortical MT functions. The Arabidopsis genome contains five SPR1-LIKE (SP1L) genes that share high sequence identity in N- and C-terminal regions. Overexpression of SP1Ls rescued the helical growth phenotype of spr1, indicating that SPR1 and SP1L proteins share the same biochemical functions. Expression analyses revealed that SPR1 and SP1L genes are transcribed in partially overlapping tissues. A combination of spr1 and sp1l mutations resulted in randomly oriented cortical MT arrays and isotropic expansion of epidermal cells. These observations suggest that SPR1 and SP1Ls act redundantly in maintaining the cortical MT organization essential for anisotropic cell growth, and that the helical growth phenotype of spr1 results from a partially compromised state of cortical MTs. Additionally, inflorescence stems of spr1 sp1l multiple mutants showed a right-handed tendril-like twining growth, indicating that a directional winding response may be conferred to the non-directional nutational movement by modulating the expression of SPR1 homologs.