Differences in the Response to DNA Double-Strand Breaks between Rod Photoreceptors of Rodents, Pigs, and Humans.

Genome editing (GE) represents a powerful approach to fight inherited blinding diseases in which the underlying mutations cause the degeneration of the light sensing photoreceptor cells of the retina. Successful GE requires the efficient repair of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) generated during the treatment. Rod photoreceptors of adult mice have a highly specialized chromatin organization, do not efficiently express a variety of DSB response genes and repair DSBs very inefficiently. The DSB repair efficiency in rods of other species including humans is unknown. Here, we used ionizing radiation to analyze the DSB response in rods of various nocturnal and diurnal species, including genetically modified mice, pigs, and humans. We show that the inefficient repair of DSBs in adult mouse rods does not result from their specialized chromatin organization. Instead, the DSB repair efficiency in rods correlates with the level of Kruppel-associated protein-1 (KAP1) expression and its ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent phosphorylation. Strikingly, we detected robust KAP1 expression and phosphorylation only in human rods but not in rods of other diurnal species including pigs. Hence, our study provides important information about the uniqueness of the DSB response in human rods which needs to be considered when choosing model systems for the development of GE strategies.

IPL Sublamination in Chicken Retinal Spheroids Is Initiated via Müller Cells and Cholinergic Differentiation, and Is Disrupted by NMDA Signaling.

Purpose: Reaggregates from E6 embryonic chicken retina exhibit areas corresponding to an inner plexiform layer (IPL), which presents an ideal in vitro model to test conditions and constraints of cholinergic and glutamatergic network formation, providing a basis for retinal tissue engineering. Here, we show that ipl formation is regulated by cholinergic starburst amacrine cells (SACs), a glial scaffold and by L-glutamate. Methods: Rosetted spheroids were cultured in absence or presence of 0.2 to 0.4 mM L-glutamate and analyzed by immuno- and enzyme histochemistry, proliferation, and apoptosis assays. Results: After 2 days in vitro (div), ipl formation was announced by acetylcholinesterase+ (AChE) and choline acetyltransferase+ (ChAT) cells. Individual vimentin+ or transitin+ Müller glial cell precursors (MCPs) in ipl centers coexpressed ChAT. Comparable to in vivo, pairwise arranged ChAT+ SACs formed two laminar subbands. Projections of calretinin+ amacrine cells (ACs) into ipl associated with MCP processes. In L-glutamate-, or NMDA-treated spheroids ipls were disrupted, including loss of SACs and MCs; coincubation with NMDA receptor inhibitor MK-801 prevented these effects. Also, many Pax6+ cells, comprising most ACs, were lost, while rho4D2+ rod photoreceptors were increased. Cell proliferation was slightly increased, while apoptosis remained unaffected. Conclusions: This demonstrated: (1) a far-advanced differentiation of an IPL in retinal spheroids, as never described before; (2) ipl sublamination was initiated by cholinergic precursor cells, which-functioning as "ipl founder cells"-(3) gave rise to neurons and glial cells; (4) these SACs and MCPs together organized ipl formation; and (5) this process was counteracted by NMDA-dependent glutamate actions.

Water-filtered infrared A reduces chlamydial infectivity in vitro without causing ex vivo eye damage in pig and mouse models.

Repeated ocular infections with Chlamydia trachomatis trigger the development of trachoma, the most common cause of infectious blindness worldwide. Water-filtered infrared A (wIRA) has shown positive effects on cultured cells and human skin. Our aim was to evaluate the potential of wIRA as a possible non-chemical treatment for trachoma patients. We both modeled ocular chlamydial infections using C. trachomatis B to infect human conjunctival epithelial cells (HCjE) and studied the effects of wIRA on non-infected ocular structures with two ex vivo eye models. We focused on the temperature development during wIRA irradiation in cell culture and perfused pig eyes to exclude potentially harmful side effects. Furthermore, cell viability of HCjE and cytotoxicity in mouse retina explants was analyzed. We demonstrated a significant wIRA-dependent reduction of chlamydial infectivity in HCjE cells. Moreover, we observed that wIRA treatment of HCjE prior to infection was sufficient to inhibit chlamydial infectivity and that visible light enhances the effect of wIRA. Irradiation did not reduce cell viability and there was no indication of retinal damage post treatment. Additionally, temperatures during wIRA exposure did not markedly exceed physiological eye temperatures, suggesting that hyperthermia-related lesions are unlikely. For clinical applications, further exploration of wIRA as a non-chemical treatment device in an experimental animal model is essential.

Cell Cycle Regulation and Apoptotic Responses of the Embryonic Chick Retina by Ionizing Radiation.

Ionizing radiation (IR) exerts deleterious effects on the developing brain, since proliferative neuronal progenitor cells are highly sensitive to IR-induced DNA damage. Assuming a radiation response that is comparable to mammals, the chick embryo would represent a lower vertebrate model system that allows analysis of the mechanisms underlying this sensitivity, thereby contributing to the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal experiments. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the radiation response of the embryonic chick retina in three selected embryonic stages. Our studies reveal a lack in the radiation-induced activation of a G1/S checkpoint, but rapid abrogation of G2/M progression after IR in retinal progenitors throughout development. Unlike cell cycle control, radiation-induced apoptosis (RIA) showed strong variations between its extent, dose dependency and temporal occurrence. Whereas the general sensitivity towards RIA declined with ongoing differentiation, its dose dependency constantly increased with age. For all embryonic stages RIA occurred during comparable periods after irradiation, but in older animals its maximum shifted towards earlier post-irradiation time points. In summary, our results are in good agreement with data from the developing rodent retina, strengthening the suitability of the chick embryo for the analysis of the radiation response in the developing central nervous system.

Inefficient double-strand break repair in murine rod photoreceptors with inverted heterochromatin organization.

BACKGROUND: DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair is crucial for the maintenance of genomic stability, and chromatin organization represents one important factor influencing repair efficiency. Mouse rod photoreceptors with their inverted heterochromatin organization containing a single large chromocenter in the middle of the nucleus provide a unique model system to study DSB repair in heterochromatin of living animals. RESULTS: We observed that adult rod photoreceptors repair only half of the induced DSBs within 1 day after damage induction, a defect that is neither observed in any other cell type of the adult retina nor in rod photoreceptor precursor cells of postnatal day 4 mice. We show that adult wild-type rods are deficient in a repair pathway involving ATM, a protein that promotes heterochromatic DSB repair by phosphorylating KAP1 and facilitating heterochromatin relaxation. Of note, we observed that rods fail to robustly accumulate active ATM at DSBs, exhibit low KAP1 levels, and display high levels of SPOC1, a factor suppressing KAP1 phosphorylation. Collectively, this results in dramatically reduced KAP1 phosphorylation and the inability to repair heterochromatic DSBs. CONCLUSIONS: Because the distinct heterochromatic structure of rods focuses transmitting light to enable vision at low photon levels, the inability to phosphorylate KAP1 and the failure to relax heterochromatin could serve to maintain this structure and the functionality of rods in the presence of DSBs. Collectively, our findings show that the unique chromatin organization of adult rods renders them incapable to efficiently repair heterochromatic DSBs, providing evidence that heterochromatin affects mammalian DSB repair in vivo.

Near-infrared exposure changes cellular responses to ionizing radiation.

Near infrared (NIR) and X-rays are radiations from different sides of the wavelength spectrum but both are used during medical treatments, as they have severe impacts on cellular processes, including metabolism, gene expression, proliferation and survival. However, both radiations differ strictly in their consequences for exposed patients: NIR effects are generally supposed to be positive, mostly ascribed to a stimulation of metabolism, whereas X-ray leads to genetic instability, an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA damages and finally to cellular death by apoptosis in tumor cells. Since genomic stability after X-irradiation depends on the mitochondrial metabolism, which is well known to be regulated by NIR, we analyzed the impact of NIR on cellular responses of fibroblasts, retinal progenitor cells and keratinocytes to X-radiation. Our data show that previous exposure to naturally occurring doses of nonthermal NIR combined with clinically relevant X-ray doses leads to (1) increased genomic instability, indicated by elevated ratios of mitotic catastrophes, (2) increased ROS, (3) higher amounts of X-irradiated cells entering S-phase and (4) impaired DNA double-strand break repair. Taken together, our data show tremendous effects of NIR on cellular responses to X-rays, probably affecting the results of radiotherapy after NIR exposure during cancer treatment.

Nuclei of chicken neurons in tissues and three-dimensional cell cultures are organized into distinct radial zones.

We used chicken retinospheroids (RS) to study the nuclear architecture of vertebrate cells in a three-dimensional (3D) cell culture system. The results showed that the different neuronal cell types of RS displayed an extreme form of radial nuclear organization. Chromatin was arranged into distinct radial zones which became already visible after DAPI staining. The distinct zones were enriched in different chromatin modifications and in different types of chromosomes. Active isoforms of RNA polymerase II were depleted in the outermost zone. Also chromocenters and nucleoli were radially aligned in the nuclear interior. The splicing factor SC35 was enriched at the central zone and did not show the typical speckled pattern of distribution. Evaluation of neuronal and non-neuronal chicken tissues showed that the highly ordered form of radial nuclear organization was also present in neuronal chicken tissues. Furthermore, the data revealed that the neuron-specific nuclear organization was remodeled when cells spread on a flat substrate. Monolayer cultures of a chicken cell line did not show this extreme form of radial organization. Rather, such monolayer cultures displayed features of nuclear organization which have been described before for many different types of monolayer cells. The finding that an extreme form radial nuclear organization, which has not been described before, is present in RS and tissues, but not in cells spread on a flat substrate, suggests that it would be important to complement studies on nuclear architecture performed with monolayer cells by studies on 3D cell culture systems and tissues.

Basic fibroblast growth factor increases the precursor pool of photoreceptors, but inhibits their differentiation and apoptosis in chicken retinal reaggregates.

The role(s) of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, FGF-2) in the differentiation and survival of photoreceptor (PR) cells was investigated in three-dimensional reaggregated histotypic spheres, derived from dispersed cells of the embryonic day 6 chicken embryo retina. Novel data processing methods are introduced to reliably quantify sphere sizes and spatial distributions of immunochemical signals in spheroids. Supplementation with 25 ng/mL FGF-2 increased cell proliferation, detected by bromodeoxyuridine uptake, and growth of spheroids. Immunochemical studies showed that FGF-2 decreased the number of visinin-positive and XAP-1-positive cells, including the total PR pool from early precursor until mature states, whereas the number of Pax6-positive amacrine cells was strongly increased. Notably, the relative number of PR precursors as detected by an Islet2 antibody was increased. The further differentiation of both red/green cones and then rods, as detected by CERN-906 and CERN-901 antibody binding, was much delayed. In contrast, blocking system-inherent FGF-2 by suramin showed opposite effects. Addition of both FGF-2 plus suramin resulted in nearly normal levels of PR differentiation. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling histochemistry showed that PR apoptosis, which generally progresses with the age of spheres, was strongly increased by suramin treatment. These results suggest that in a three-dimensional retinal tissue context, FGF-2 restricts the pool of PRs in favour of cells of the inner retina, increases and maintains their precursor pool, delays their differentiation, and also protects them from apoptosis.

Chlorella viruses prevent multiple infections by depolarizing the host membrane.

Previous experiments established that when the unicellular green alga Chlorella NC64A is inoculated with two viruses, usually only one virus replicates in a single cell. That is, the viruses mutually exclude one another. In the current study, we explore the possibility that virus-induced host membrane depolarization, at least partially caused by a virus-encoded K(+) channel (Kcv), is involved in this mutual exclusion. Two chlorella viruses, PBCV-1 and NY-2A, were chosen for the study because (i) they can be distinguished by real-time PCR and (ii) they exhibit differential sensitivity to Cs(+), a well-known K(+) channel blocker. PBCV-1-induced host membrane depolarization, Kcv channel activity and plaque formation are only slightly affected by Cs(+), whereas all three NY-2A-induced events are strongly inhibited by Cs(+). The addition of one virus 5-15 min before the other results primarily in replication of the first virus. However, if virus NY-2A-induced membrane depolarization of the host is blocked by Cs(+), PBCV-1 is not excluded. We conclude that virus-induced membrane depolarization is at least partially responsible for the exclusion phenomenon.

Chlorella viruses evoke a rapid release of K+ from host cells during the early phase of infection.

Infection of Chlorella NC64A cells by PBCV-1 produces a rapid depolarization of the host probably by incorporation of a viral-encoded K(+) channel (Kcv) into the host membrane. To examine the effect of an elevated conductance, we monitored the virus-stimulated efflux of K(+) from the chlorella cells. The results indicate that all 8 chlorella viruses tested evoked a host specific K(+) efflux with a concomitant decrease in the intracellular K(+). This K(+) efflux is partially reduced by blockers of the Kcv channel. Qualitatively these results support the hypothesis that depolarization and K(+) efflux are at least partially mediated by Kcv. The virus-triggered K(+) efflux occurs in the same time frame as host cell wall degradation and ejection of viral DNA. Therefore, it is reasonable to postulate that loss of K(+) and associated water fluxes from the host lower the pressure barrier to aid ejection of DNA from the virus particles into the host.

Potassium ion channels of Chlorella viruses cause rapid depolarization of host cells during infection.

Previous studies have established that chlorella viruses encode K(+) channels with different structural and functional properties. In the current study, we exploit the different sensitivities of these channels to Cs(+) to determine if the membrane depolarization observed during virus infection is caused by the activities of these channels. Infection of Chlorella NC64A with four viruses caused rapid membrane depolarization of similar amplitudes, but with different kinetics. Depolarization was fastest after infection with virus SC-1A (half time [t(1/2)], about 9 min) and slowest with virus NY-2A (t(1/2), about 12 min). Cs(+) inhibited membrane depolarization only in viruses that encode a Cs(+)-sensitive K(+) channel. Collectively, the results indicate that membrane depolarization is an early event in chlorella virus-host interactions and that it is correlated with viral-channel activity. This suggestion was supported by investigations of thin sections of Chlorella cells, which show that channel blockers inhibit virus DNA release into the host cell. Together, the data indicate that the channel is probably packaged in the virion, presumably in its internal membrane. We hypothesize that fusion of the virus internal membrane with the host plasma membrane results in an increase in K(+) conductance and membrane depolarization; this depolarization lowers the energy barrier for DNA release into the host.