Progressive severe lung injury by zinc oxide nanoparticles; the role of Zn2+ dissolution inside lysosomes

Background: Large production volumes of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONP) might be anticipated to pose risks, of accidental inhalation in occupational and even in consumer settings. Herein, we further investigated the pathological changes induced by ZnONP and their possible mechanism of action.Methods: Two doses of ZnONP (50 and 150 cm(2)/rat) were intratracheally instilled into the lungs of rats with assessments made at 24 h, 1 wk, and 4 wks after instillation to evaluate dose- and time-course responses. Assessments included bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid analysis, histological analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and IgE and IgA measurement in the serum and BAL fluid. To evaluate the mechanism, alternative ZnONP, ZnONP-free bronchoalveolar lavage exudate, and dissolved Zn2+ (92.5 mu g/rat) were also instilled to rats. Acridine orange staining was utilized in macrophages in culture to evaluate the lysosomal membrane destabilization by NP.Results: ZnONP induced eosinophilia, proliferation of airway epithelial cells, goblet cell hyperplasia, and pulmonary fibrosis. Bronchocentric interstitial pulmonary fibrosis at the chronic phase was associated with increased myofibroblast accumulation and transforming growth factor-beta positivity. Serum IgE levels were up-regulated by ZnONP along with the eosinophilia whilst serum IgA levels were down-regulated by ZnONP. ZnONP are rapidly dissolved under acidic conditions (pH 4.5) whilst they remained intact around neutrality (pH 7.4). The instillation of dissolved Zn2+ into rat lungs showed similar pathologies (eg., eosinophilia, bronchocentric interstitial fibrosis) as were elicited by ZnONP. Lysosomal stability was decreased and cell death resulted following treatment of macrophages with ZnONP in vitro.Conclusions: We hypothesise that rapid, pH-dependent dissolution of ZnONP inside of phagosomes is the main cause of ZnONP-induced diverse progressive severe lung injuries

Enhanced Statistical Tests for GWAS in Admixed Populations: Assessment using African Americans from CARe and a Breast Cancer Consortium

While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have primarily examined populations of European ancestry, more recent studies often involve additional populations, including admixed populations such as African Americans and Latinos. In admixed populations, linkage disequilibrium (LD) exists both at a fine scale in ancestral populations and at a coarse scale (admixture-LD) due to chromosomal segments of distinct ancestry. Disease association statistics in admixed populations have previously considered SNP association (LD mapping) or admixture association (mapping by admixture-LD), but not both. Here, we introduce a new statistical framework for combining SNP and admixture association in case-control studies, as well as methods for local ancestry-aware imputation. We illustrate the gain in statistical power achieved by these methods by analyzing data of 6,209 unrelated African Americans from the CARe project genotyped on the Affymetrix 6.0 chip, in conjunction with both simulated and real phenotypes, as well as by analyzing the FGFR2 locus using breast cancer GWAS data from 5,761 African-American women. We show that, at typed SNPs, our method yields an 8% increase in statistical power for finding disease risk loci compared to the power achieved by standard methods in case-control studies. At imputed SNPs, we observe an 11% increase in statistical power for mapping disease loci when our local ancestry-aware imputation framework and the new scoring statistic are jointly employed. Finally, we show that our method increases statistical power in regions harboring the causal SNP in the case when the causal SNP is untyped and cannot be imputed. Our methods and our publicly available software are broadly applicable to GWAS in admixed populations

A common haplotype lowers PU.1 expression in myeloid cells and delays onset of Alzheimer's disease

A genome-wide survival analysis of 14,406 Alzheimer's disease (AD) cases and 25,849 controls identified eight previously reported AD risk loci and 14 novel loci associated with age at onset. Linkage disequilibrium score regression of 220 cell types implicated the regulation of myeloid gene expression in AD risk. The minor allele of rs1057233 (G), within the previously reported CELF1 AD risk locus, showed association with delayed AD onset and lower expression of SPI1 in monocytes and macrophages. SPI1 encodes PU.1, a transcription factor critical for myeloid cell development and function. AD heritability was enriched within the PU.1 cistrome, implicating a myeloid PU.1 target gene network in AD. Finally, experimentally altered PU.1 levels affected the expression of mouse orthologs of many AD risk genes and the phagocytic activity of mouse microglial cells. Our results suggest that lower SPI1 expression reduces AD risk by regulating myeloid gene expression and cell function

Cerebrospinal fluid markers of neuroinflammation in delirium:A role for interleukin-1β in delirium after hip fracture

AbstractObjectiveExaggerated central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory responses to peripheral stressors may be implicated in delirium. This study hypothesised that the IL-1β family is involved in delirium, predicting increased levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and decreased IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of elderly patients with acute hip fracture. We also hypothesised that Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) would be increased, and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) would be decreased.MethodsParticipants with acute hip fracture aged >60 (N=43) were assessed for delirium before and 3–4 days after surgery. CSF samples were taken at induction of spinal anaesthesia. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used for protein concentrations.ResultsPrevalent delirium was diagnosed in eight patients and incident delirium in 17 patients. CSF IL-1β was higher in patients with incident delirium compared to never delirium (incident delirium 1.74pg/ml (1.02–1.74) vs. prevalent 0.84pg/ml (0.49–1.57) vs. never 0.66pg/ml (0–1.02), Kruskal–Wallis p=0.03). CSF:serum IL-1β ratios were higher in delirious than non-delirious patients. CSF IL-1ra was higher in prevalent delirium compared to incident delirium (prevalent delirium 70.75pg/ml (65.63–73.01) vs. incident 31.06pg/ml (28.12–35.15) vs. never 33.98pg/ml (28.71–43.28), Kruskal–Wallis p=0.04). GFAP was not increased in delirium. IFN-γ and IGF-1 were below the detection limit in CSF.ConclusionThis study provides novel evidence of CNS inflammation involving the IL-1β family in delirium and suggests a rise in CSF IL-1β early in delirium pathogenesis. Future larger CSF studies should examine the role of CNS inflammation in delirium and its sequelae

Transancestral GWAS of alcohol dependence reveals common genetic underpinnings with psychiatric disorders

Liability to alcohol dependence (AD) is heritable, but little is known about its complex polygenic architecture or its genetic relationship with other disorders. To discover loci associated with AD and characterize the relationship between AD and other psychiatric and behavioral outcomes, we carried out the largest genome-wide association study to date of DSM-IV-diagnosed AD. Genome-wide data on 14,904 individuals with AD and 37,944 controls from 28 case-control and family-based studies were meta-analyzed, stratified by genetic ancestry (European, n = 46,568; African, n = 6,280). Independent, genome-wide significant effects of different ADH1B variants were identified in European (rs1229984; P = 9.8 x 10(-13)) and African ancestries (rs2066702; P = 2.2 x 10(-9)). Significant genetic correlations were observed with 17 phenotypes, including schizophrenia, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, depression, and use of cigarettes and cannabis. The genetic underpinnings of AD only partially overlap with those for alcohol consumption, underscoring the genetic distinction between pathological and nonpathological drinking behaviors.Peer reviewe

Cerebrospinal fluid interleukin-8 levels are higher in people with hip fracture with perioperative delirium than in controls

status: publishe