Distinct Mechanisms Underlying Resveratrol-Mediated Protection from Types of Cellular Stress in C6 Glioma Cells.

The polyphenolic phytostilbene, trans-resveratrol, is found in high amounts in several types and tissues of plants, including grapes, and has been proposed to have beneficial effects in the central nervous system due to its activity as an antioxidant. The objective of the present study was to identify the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of resveratrol under conditions of oxidative stress or DNA damage, induced by the extracellularly applied oxidant, tert-butyl hydrogen peroxide, or UV-irradiation, respectively. In C6 glioma cells, a model system for glial cell biology and pharmacology, resveratrol was protective against both types of insult. Prevention of tau protein cleavage and of the formation of neurofibrillary tangles were identified as mechanisms of action of resveratrol-mediated protection in both paradigms of cellular damage. However, depending on the type of insult, resveratrol exerted its protective activity differentially: under conditions of chemically induced oxidative stress, inhibition of caspase activity, while with DNA damage, resveratrol regulated tau phosphorylation at Ser422. Results advance our understanding of resveratrol's complex impact on cellular signaling pathway and contribute to the notion of resveratrol's role as a pleiotropic therapeutic agent.

Caspase-3-Dependent Proteolytic Cleavage of Tau Causes Neurofibrillary Tangles and Results in Cognitive Impairment During Normal Aging.

Mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) are important for understanding how pathological signaling cascades change neural circuitry and with time interrupt cognitive function. Here, we introduce a non-genetic preclinical model for aging and show that it exhibits cleaved tau protein, active caspases and neurofibrillary tangles, hallmarks of AD, causing behavioral deficits measuring cognitive impairment. To our knowledge this is the first report of a non-transgenic, non-interventional mouse model displaying structural, functional and molecular aging deficits associated with AD and other tauopathies in humans with potentially high impact on both new basic research into pathogenic mechanisms and new translational research efforts. Tau aggregation is a hallmark of tauopathies, including AD. Recent studies have indicated that cleavage of tau plays an important role in both tau aggregation and disease. In this study we use wild type mice as a model for normal aging and resulting age-related cognitive impairment. We provide evidence that aged mice have increased levels of activated caspases, which significantly correlates with increased levels of truncated tau and formation of neurofibrillary tangles. In addition, cognitive decline was significantly correlated with increased levels of caspase activity and tau truncated by caspase-3. Experimentally induced inhibition of caspases prevented this proteolytic cleavage of tau and the associated formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Our study shows the strength of using a non-transgenic model to study structure, function and molecular mechanisms in aging and age related diseases of the brain.

Plate reader-based cell viability assays for glioprotection using primary rat optic nerve head astrocytes.

Optic nerve head astrocytes (ONHAs) are the major glia cell type in the non-myelinated optic nerve head where they contribute critically to extracellular matrix synthesis during development and throughout life. In glaucoma, and in related disorders affecting the optic nerve and the optic nerve head, pathological changes include altered astrocyte gene and protein expression resulting in their activation and extracellular matrix remodeling. ONHAs are highly sensitive to mechanical and oxidative stress resulting in the initiation of axon damage early during pathogenesis. Furthermore, ONHAs are crucial for the maintenance of retinal ganglion cell physiology and function. Therefore, glioprotective strategies with the goal to preserve and/or restore the structural and functional viability of ONHA in order to slow glaucoma and related pathologies are of high clinical relevance. Herein, we describe the development of standardized methods that will allow for the systematic advancement of such glioprotective strategies. These include isolation, purification and culture of primary adult rat ONHAs, optimized immunocytochemical protocols for cell type validation, as well as plate reader-based assays determining cellular viability, proliferation and the intracellular redox state. We validated and standardized our protocols by performing a glioprotection study using primary ONHAs. Specifically, we measured protection against exogenously-applied oxidative stress using tert-butylhydroperoxide (tBHP) as a model of disease-mediated oxidative stress in the retina and optic nerve head by the prototypic antioxidant, 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox). Levels of oxidative stress were increased in the response to exogenously applied tBHP and were assessed by 6-carboxy-2', 7' dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFDA) fluorescence. Normalized DCFDA fluorescence showed a maximal 5.1-fold increase; the half-maximal effect (EC50) for tBHP was 212 ± 25 µM. This was paralleled very effectively in the assays measuring cell death and cell viability with half-maximal effects of 241 ± 20 µM and 194 ± 5 µM for tBHP in the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) conversion assays, respectively. Pre-treatment with 100 µM Trolox decreased the sensitivity of ONHAs to tBHP. Half-maximal effects increased to 396 ± 12 µM tBHP in the LDH release assay and to 383 ± 3 µM tBHP in the MTT assay. Vehicle treatment (0.1% v/v ethanol) did not significantly affect cellular responses to tBHP. Antioxidant treatment increases ONHA viability and reduces the deleterious effects of oxidative stress. Our experiments provide important feasibility data for utilizing primary rat ONHAs in plate reader-based assays assessing novel therapeutics for glioprotection of the optic nerve and the optic nerve head in glaucoma and related disorders. Furthermore, our novel, standardized protocols have the potential to be readily adapted to high-throughput and high-content testing strategies.

Control of Neuronal Ryanodine Receptor-Mediated Calcium Signaling by Calsenilin.

Calsenilin is a calcium ion (Ca2+)-binding protein involved in regulating the intracellular concentration of Ca2+, a second messenger that controls multiple cellular signaling pathways. The ryanodine receptor (RyR) amplifies Ca2+ signals entering the cytoplasm by releasing Ca2+ from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stores, a process termed calcium-induced calcium release (CICR). Here, we describe a novel mechanism, in which calsenilin controls the activity of neuronal RyRs. We show calsenilin co-localized with RyR2 and 3 in the ER of mouse hippocampal and cortical neurons using immunocytochemistry. The underlying protein-protein interaction between calsenilin and the RyR was determined in mouse central nervous system (CNS) neurons using immunoprecipitation studies. The functional relevance of this interaction was assayed with single-channel electrophysiology. At low physiological Ca2+ concentrations, calsenilin binding to the cytoplasmic face of neuronal RyRs decreased the RyR's open probability, while calsenilin increased the open probability at high physiological Ca2+ concentrations. This novel molecular mechanism was studied further at the cellular level, where faster release kinetics of caffeine-induced Ca2+ release were measured in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells overexpressing calsenilin. The interaction between calsenilin and neuronal RyRs reveals a new regulatory mechanism and possibly a novel pharmacological target for the control of Ca2+ release from intracellular stores.

Nampt/PBEF/visfatin serum levels: a new biomarker for retinal blood vessel occlusions.

The main objective of the study was to quantify serum levels of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt/pre-B-Cell colony-enhancing factor 1/visfatin) in subjects with a history of retinal vascular occlusions (RVOs), disease conditions characterized by pronounced ischemia, and metabolic energy deficits. A case-control study of 18 subjects with a history of RVO as well as six healthy volunteers is presented. Serum Nampt levels were quantified using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Serum Nampt levels were 79% lower in patients with a history of RVO compared with that in healthy volunteers (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference among the types of RVOs, specifically branch retinal vein occlusions (n=7), central retinal vein occlusions (n=5), hemiretinal vein occlusions (n=3), and central retinal artery occlusions (n=3; P=0.69). Further studies are needed to establish the temporal kinetics of Nampt expression and to determine whether Nampt may represent a novel biomarker to identify at-risk populations, or whether it is a druggable target with the potential to ameliorate the long-term complications associated with the condition, ie, macular edema, macular ischemia, neovascularization, and permanent loss of vision.

Insert sequence length determines transfection efficiency and gene expression levels in bicistronic mammalian expression vectors.

Bicistronic expression vectors have been widely used for co-expression studies since the initial discovery of the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) about 25 years ago. IRES sequences allow the 5' cap-independent initiation of translation of multiple genes on a single messenger RNA strand. Using a commercially available mammalian expression vector containing an IRES sequence with a 3' green fluorescent protein fluorescent marker, we found that sequence length of the gene of interest expressed 5' of the IRES site influences both expression of the 3' fluorescent marker and overall transfection efficiency of the vector construct. Furthermore, we generated a novel construct expressing two distinct fluorescent markers and found that high expression of one gene can lower expression of the other. Observations from this study indicate that caution is warranted in the design of experiments utilizing an IRES system with a short 5' gene of interest sequence (<300 bp), selection of single cells based on the expression profile of the 3' optogenetic fluorescent marker, and assumptions made during data analysis.

Presenilins regulate the cellular activity of ryanodine receptors differentially through isotype-specific N-terminal cysteines.

Presenilins (PS), endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transmembrane proteins, form the catalytic core of γ-secretase, an amyloid precursor protein processing enzyme. Mutations in PS lead to Alzheimer's disease (AD) by altering γ-secretase activity to generate pathologic amyloid beta and amyloid plaques in the brain. Here, we identified a novel mechanism where binding of a soluble, cytosolic N-terminal domain fragment (NTF) of PS to intracellular Ca(2+) release channels, ryanodine receptors (RyR), controls Ca(2+) release from the ER. While PS1NTF decreased total RyR-mediated Ca(2+) release, PS2NTF had no effect at physiological Ca(2+) concentrations. This differential function and isotype-specificity is due to four cysteines absent in PS1NTF, present, however, in PS2NTF. Site-directed mutagenesis targeting these cysteines converted PS1NTF to PS2NTF function and vice versa, indicating differential RyR binding. This novel mechanism of intracellular Ca(2+) regulation through the PS-RyR interaction represents a novel target for AD drug development and the treatment of other neurodegenerative disorders that critically depend on RyR and PS signaling.