Approbation of a New Model of Secondary Damage after Traumatic Brain Injury Based on Reprogrammed Rat Embryo Fibroblasts.

The paper presents a new model of secondary injuries after traumatic brain injury. The model is based on the cultivation of rat embryonic fibroblasts reprogrammed to a neuronal phenotype in the presence of cerebrospinal fluid from injured rats. The presented model was used to test the therapeutic effect of inducers of the synthesis of chaperones from the classes of pyrrolylazines and indolylazines, which have neuroprotective properties.

Indolyl- and Pyrrolylazine Derivatives Cause the Accumulation of Heat Shock Protein Hsp70 in Sh-Sy5Y Human Neuroblastoma Cells.

The heat shock protein Hsp70 is involved in cell defense from various types of stress, including the proteotoxic stress, which occurs during the development of many neurodegenerative diseases. This work presents data on the detection of small molecules, derivatives of indolyl- and pyrrolylazines, which can activate the synthesis of Hsp70 and cause its accumulation in the cell. The toxicity level of the new Hsp70 synthesis inducers was evaluated, and the safety of these compounds was demonstrated in experiments on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line. Derivatives of indolyl- and pyrrolylazines presented in this work can be potential therapeutic agents in models of neurodegenerative diseases that should be studied in more detail.

Factors Affecting Aggregate Formation in Cell Models of Huntington's Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Most neurodegenerative pathologies stem from the formation of aggregates of mutant proteins, causing dysfunction and ultimately neuronal death. This study was aimed at elucidating the role of the protein factors that promote aggregate formation or prevent the process, respectively, glyceraldehyde-3-dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and tissue transglutaminase (tTG) and Hsp70 molecular chaperone. The siRNA technology was used to show that the inhibition of GAPDH expression leads to a 45-50% reduction in the aggregation of mutant huntingtin, with a repeat of 103 glutamine residues in a model of Huntington's disease (HD). Similarly, the blockage of GAPDH synthesis was found for the first time to reduce the degree of aggregation of mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (G93A) in a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The treatment of cells that imitate HD and ALS with a pharmacological GAPDH inhibitor, hydroxynonenal, was also shown to reduce the amount of the aggregating material in both disease models. Tissue transglutaminase is another factor that promotes the aggregation of mutant proteins; the inhibition of its activity with cystamine was found to prevent aggregate formation of mutant huntingtin and SOD1. In order to explore the protective function of Hsp70 in the control of the aggregation of mutant huntingtin, a cell model with inducible expression of the chaperone was used. The amount and size of polyglutamine aggregates were reduced by increasing the intracellular content of Hsp70. Thus, pharmacological regulation of the function of three proteins, GAPDH, tTG, and Hsp70, can affect the pathogenesis of two significant neurodegenerative diseases.

[A study of participation of Hdj1 co-chaperone in the modulation of sleep and behavior using micro RNA technology in vivo].

Data obtained for the last 12 years and modern hypotheses on key function of sleep and the role of Heat Shock Protein 70 kDa (HSP70) molecular chaperones family in sleep modulation are insufficient to determine assotiation of sleep quantity to the level of chaperones in the basic "center" of sleep in the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPA) of the hypothalamus. In the present study, to reduce the content of Hdj1 major co-chaperone of Hsp70 in the VLPA we employed a novel approach based on lentiviral construction containing specific Hdj1-shRNA. The immunoblotting data showed that in 6 weeks after infection the level of Hdj1 in VLPA was reduced by 80% that was accompanied by a considerable increase in the quantity of slow-wave sleep and a marked decrease in the level of anxiety; earlier we found that elevation of Hsp70 level in the rat brain resulted in similar changes. It is suggested that the increase in quantity of slow wave sleep and the decrease in the level of anxiety can be related to a sustained disorder in the integration between molecular systems based on chaperones Hdj1 and Hsp70 and to a compensatory increase in the Hsp70 chaperone activity/level in VLPA.

Kinetics of chaperone activity of proteins Hsp70 and Hdj1 in human leukemia u-937 cells after preconditioning with thermal shock or compound u-133.

Kinetics of the chaperone activity of proteins Hsp70 and Hdj1 were analyzed in human U-937 promonocytes during their response to heat shock or to treatment with the echinochrome triacetyl glucoside derivative U-133. To measure the chaperone activity of both proteins, a special test was developed for their recognition and binding of a denatured protein. Using this test, the chaperone activity could be concurrently estimated in large numbers of cellular or tissue extracts. We also estimated the contents of both chaperones in cells by immunoblotting. The values for contents of Hsp70 and Hdj1 obtained by two independent test systems coincided, and this suggested that the substrate-binding activity could change proportionally to the chaperone content in the protein mixture. Therefore, the test developed by us can be employed for high throughput screening of drugs activating cellular chaperones. The analysis of quantity and activity of two cellular chaperones during the cell response to heat stress or to the drug-like substance U-133 showed that both factors caused the accumulation of chaperones with similar kinetics. We conclude that the efficiency of drug preconditioning could be close to the efficiency of hyperthermia and that the high activity of chaperones could be retained in human cells for no less than 1.5 days.