Allosteric Inhibition of a Vesicular Glutamate Transporter by an Isoform-Specific Antibody.

The role of glutamate in excitatory neurotransmission depends on its transport into synaptic vesicles by the vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs). The three VGLUT isoforms exhibit a complementary distribution in the nervous system, and the knockout of each produces severe, pleiotropic neurological effects. However, the available pharmacology lacks sensitivity and specificity, limiting the analysis of both transport mechanism and physiological role. To develop new molecular probes for the VGLUTs, we raised six mouse monoclonal antibodies to VGLUT2. All six bind to a structured region of VGLUT2, five to the luminal face, and one to the cytosolic. Two are specific to VGLUT2, whereas the other four bind to both VGLUT1 and 2; none detect VGLUT3. Antibody 8E11 recognizes an epitope spanning the three extracellular loops in the C-domain that explains the recognition of both VGLUT1 and 2 but not VGLUT3. 8E11 also inhibits both glutamate transport and the VGLUT-associated chloride conductance. Since the antibody binds outside the substrate recognition site, it acts allosterically to inhibit function, presumably by restricting conformational changes. The isoform specificity also shows that allosteric inhibition provides a mechanism to distinguish between closely related transporters.

Acute treatment with diphenyl diselenide inhibits glutamate uptake into rat hippocampal slices and modifies glutamate transporters, SNAP-25, and GFAP immunocontent.

Diphenyl diselenide (PhSe)(2) is a selenium organic compound that has been described to inhibit glutamate binding at synaptic membranes and uptake into cortical slices, but there are no studies about its effects on glutamate transporters and related synaptic proteins. Hippocampal slices from rats treated acutely with (PhSe)(2) (1, 10, and 100 mg/kg, oral route) were evaluated on glutamate uptake, redox state, the immunocontent of glial (glutamate/aspartate transporter [GLAST] and glutamate transporter type I [GLT1]), neuronal (excitatory amino acid carrier 1 [EAAC1]), and vesicular (vesicular glutamate transporter 1 [VGLUT1]) glutamate transporters. Besides, cell viability was evaluated by glial fibrillar acid protein (GFAP) and synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP-25) immunocontent and 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and Fluoro Jade C staining. Hippocampal slices from rats treated with (PhSe)(2) exhibited a nondose-dependent inhibition of glutamate uptake (53, 38, and 45%, respectively). All doses increased EAAC1, decreased SNAP-25, did not modify GLT1 immunocontent, and there was no evidence of oxidative stress. (PhSe)(2) (100 mg/kg) increased 32% GLAST, decreased 34% VGLUT1, and 21% GFAP immunocontent. Besides, (PhSe)(2) (100 mg/kg) decreased by 25% GFAP-stained astrocytes and 27% DAPI-stained cells in the CA1 subfield. Our results suggest that the increase of EAAC1 and GLAST immunocontent by (PhSe)(2) might be a compensatory mechanism by surviving cells in order to reduce extracellular glutamate levels, avoiding possible neurotoxic effects. The impairment of glutamate uptake by the highest dose of (PhSe)(2) seems to be related to a decrease on VGLUT1, SNAP-25, and damage to astrocytes. Since there were no signs of oxidative stress, our findings revealed that depending on the dose, acute administration of (PhSe)(2) causes modifications in important synaptic-related proteins and damage to the astrocytes, and these events must be taken into account in its pharmacological properties.

Japanese encephalitis virus differentially modulates the induction of multiple pro-inflammatory mediators in human astrocytoma and astroglioma cell-lines.

Astrocytes become activated in response to many CNS pathologies. The process of astrocyte activation remains rather enigmatic and results in so-called reactive gliosis, a reaction with specific structural and functional characteristics. Astrocytes play a vital role in regulating aspects of inflammation and in the homeostatic maintenance of the CNS. However, the responses of different human astroglial cell-lines in viral encephalitis mediated inflammation are not well documented. We have shown that Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection causes morphological and functional changes in astrocytic cell-lines. We have demonstrated that besides reactive oxygen species (ROS) JEV infection differentially regulated the induction pattern of IL-6, IL-1 beta and IL-8. IP-10, MCP-1, MIG and RANTES secretions in different astroglial cell-lines. The expression of different proteins such as astrocyte-specific glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the glutamate aspartate transporter/essential amino acid transporter-1 (GLAST/EAAT-1), glutamate transporter-1/essential amino acid transporter-2 (GLT-1/EAAT-2), Ceruloplasmin and Thioredoxin (TRX) expression level also differ in different human astrocyte cell-lines following infection.