Delta-frequency stimulation of cerebellar projections can compensate for schizophrenia-related medial frontal dysfunction.

Schizophrenia involves abnormalities in the medial frontal cortex that lead to cognitive deficits. Here we investigate a novel strategy to normalize medial frontal brain activity by stimulating cerebellar projections. We used an interval timing task to study elementary cognitive processing that requires both frontal and cerebellar networks that are disrupted in patients with schizophrenia. We report three novel findings. First, patients with schizophrenia had dysfunctional delta rhythms between 1-4 Hz in the medial frontal cortex. We explored cerebellar-frontal interactions in animal models and found that both frontal and cerebellar neurons were modulated during interval timing and had delta-frequency interactions. Finally, delta-frequency optogenetic stimulation of thalamic synaptic terminals of lateral cerebellar projection neurons rescued timing performance as well as medial frontal activity in a rodent model of schizophrenia-related frontal dysfunction. These data provide insight into how the cerebellum influences medial frontal networks and the role of the cerebellum in cognitive processing.

Targeted disruption of the mouse gene encoding steroidogenic acute regulatory protein provides insights into congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia.

An essential component of regulated steroidogenesis is the translocation of cholesterol from the cytoplasm to the inner mitochondrial membrane where the cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme carries out the first committed step in steroidogenesis. Recent studies showed that a 30-kDa mitochondrial phosphoprotein, designated steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), is essential for this translocation. To allow us to explore the roles of StAR in a system amenable to experimental manipulation and to develop an animal model for the human disorder lipoid congenital adrenal hyperplasia (lipoid CAH), we used targeted gene disruption to produce StAR knockout mice. These StAR knockout mice were indistinguishable initially from wild-type littermates, except that males and females had female external genitalia. After birth, they failed to grow normally and died from adrenocortical insufficiency. Hormone assays confirmed severe defects in adrenal steroids-with loss of negative feedback regulation at hypothalamic-pituitary levels-whereas hormones constituting the gonadal axis did not differ significantly from levels in wild-type littermates. Histologically, the adrenal cortex of StAR knockout mice contained florid lipid deposits, with lesser deposits in the steroidogenic compartment of the testis and none in the ovary. The sex-specific differences in gonadal involvement support a two-stage model of the pathogenesis of StAR deficiency, with trophic hormone stimulation inducing progressive accumulation of lipids within the steroidogenic cells and ultimately causing their death. These StAR knockout mice provide a useful model system in which to determine the mechanisms of StAR's essential roles in adrenocortical and gonadal steroidogenesis.

Steroidogenic factor 1 acts at all levels of the reproductive axis.

The conversion of cholesterol into steroid hormones occurs through the sequential actions of the cytochrome P450 steroid hydroxylases. Attempts to understand the mechanisms responsible for the temporal and spatial expression patterns of these enzymes led to the identification of a shared regulator, termed steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1). SF-1 coordinately regulates the steroid hydroxylase genes and thus functions as a global mediator of steroidogenesis. Of greater significance, recent studies using a knockout mouse model have further implicated SF-1 in a variety of processes ranging from development of the steroidogenic organs to the normal function of gonadotropes and the development of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. A fundamental aspect of elucidating the role of SF-1 at all levels of the reproductive axis is to identify its cell-specific target genes. The recent purification and cloning of the steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein has provided an intriguing new candidate through which SF-1 acts to mediate its effects on reproductive competence. These studies yield novel insights into the processes of steroidogenesis, endocrine development, and reproductive function.

Cloning and sequence analysis of the human gene encoding steroidogenic factor 1.

The orphan nuclear receptor steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) plays key roles in endocrine development and function. Initially identified as a positive regulator of the cytochrome P450 steroid hydroxylases, analyses of knockout mice deficient in SF-1 revealed that SF-1 is essential for adrenal and gonadal development, pituitary gonadotropin expression and formation of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus. Although more limited in scope, analyses of SF-1 in humans similarly have suggested that SF-1 is important for differentiated function in adrenocortical and gonadotrope adenomas. In the hope of extending our understanding of SF-1 function by identifying possible roles of SF-1 in clinical endocrine disorders, we isolated the FTZ-F1 gene encoding human SF-1 and mapped it to chromosome 9q33. In this report, we characterize the sequence and structural organization of the human cDNA and gene encoding SF-1, providing new insights into comparative aspects of SF-1 structure that will facilitate efforts to study the role of this transcription factor in human endocrine disorders.

Dietary potassium supplementation and sodium restriction stimulate aldosterone synthase but not 11 beta-hydroxylase P-450 messenger ribonucleic acid accumulation in rat adrenals and require angiotensin II production.

Increasing evidence indicates that the adrenal cortex of most mammalian species expresses distinct forms of cytochrome P-450(11 beta), a steroidogenic enzyme that catalyses the terminal steps in the biosynthesis of both glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. In the human, mouse, and rat, two genes have been isolated, designated CYP11B1 and CYP11B2. The product of CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase) is required for the successive 11 beta-, 18-hydroxylations and 18-oxidation of deoxycorticosterone that lead to the production of aldosterone in the zona glomerulosa. In contrast, the product of CYP11B1 (11 beta-hydroxylase) mediates only the 11 beta-hydroxylation of deoxycorticosterone and 11-deoxycortisol. The recent identification of these two P-450(11 beta) isozymes mandates further analysis of their expression in different zones of the adrenal cortex, both under basal conditions and in response to conditions known to alter mineralocorticoid biosynthesis. To evaluate the expression of the two isozymes in different adrenocortical zones, we performed Northern blotting analyses with specific oligonucleotide probes that discriminated between the two forms of rat P-450(11 beta). The transcripts detected by the two probes were of similar size (2.7 kilobase), but differed in their zonal distribution: aldosterone synthase P-450 messenger RNA (mRNA) was detected only in zona glomerulosa, whereas 11 beta-hydroxylase P-450 was expressed in both zona fasciculata-reticularis and zona glomerulosa. Next, we analyzed the response of these two genes to various physiological and pharmacological interventions known to affect aldosterone biosynthesis. High potassium or low sodium diet given to rats for 1 week increased aldosterone synthase P-450 mRNA levels by approximately 5- and 6-fold, respectively. These increases, moreover, were significantly attenuated by treatment with captopril, an inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme. In contrast, neither dietary manipulation significantly affected 11 beta-hydroxylase P-450 mRNA levels in any zone. Thus, stimulation of the terminal steps of aldosterone biosynthesis by variations in dietary intake of monovalent cations involves regulation of aldosterone synthase P-450 mRNA levels. Finally, captopril inhibited potassium induction of aldosterone synthase P-450 mRNA levels despite the presence of low plasma renin activity in the potassium-treated rats. This finding implicates intraadrenal angiotensin II formation in the effect of potassium on mineralocorticoid production.