Multimodal imaging of hair follicle bulge-derived stem cells in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating event for which current therapies are limited. Stem cell transplantation may lead to recovery of function via different mechanisms, such as cell replacement through differentiation, stimulation of angiogenesis and support to the microenvironment. Adult hair follicle bulge-derived stem cells (HFBSCs) possess neuronal differentiation capacity, are easy to harvest and are relatively immune-privileged, which makes them potential candidates for autologous stem cell-based therapy. In this study, we apply in vivo multimodal, optical and magnetic resonance imaging techniques to investigate the behavior of mouse HFBSCs in a mouse model of TBI. HFBSCs expressed Luc2 and copGFP and were examined for their differentiation capacity in vitro. Subsequently, transduced HFBSCs, preloaded with ferumoxytol, were transplanted next to the TBI lesion (cortical region) in nude mice, 2 days after injury. Brains were fixed for immunohistochemistry 58 days after transplantation. Luc2- and copGFP-expressing, ferumoxytol-loaded HFBSCs showed adequate neuronal differentiation potential in vitro. Bioluminescence of the lesioned brain revealed survival of HFBSCs and magnetic resonance imaging identified their localization in the area of transplantation. Immunohistochemistry showed that transplanted cells stained for nestin and neurofilament protein (NF-Pan). Cells also expressed laminin and fibronectin but extracellular matrix masses were not detected. After 58 days, ferumoxytol could be detected in HFBSCs in brain tissue sections. These results show that HFBSCs are able to survive after brain transplantation and suggest that ce

Proteomic profiling of nuclei from native renal inner medullary collecting duct cells using LC-MS/MS

Vasopressin is a peptide hormone that regulates renal water excretion in part through its actions on the collecting duct. The regulation occurs in part via control of transcription of genes coding for the water channels aquaporin-2 (Aqp2) and aquaporin-3 (Aqp3). To identify transcription factors expressed in collecting duct cells, we have carried out LC-MS/MS-based proteomic profiling of nuclei isolated from native rat inner medullary collecting ducts (IMCDs). To maximize the number of proteins identified, we matched spectra to rat amino acid sequences using three different search algorithms (SEQUEST, InsPecT, and OMSSA). All searches were coupled to target-decoy methodology to limit false-discovery identifications to 2% of the total for single-peptide identifications. In addition, we developed a computational tool (ProMatch) to identify and eliminate ambiguous identifications. With this approach, we identified >3,500 proteins, including 154 proteins classified as “transcription factor” proteins (Panther Classification System). Among these, are members of CREB, ETS, RXR, NFAT, HOX, GATA, EBOX, EGR, MYT1, KLF, and CP2 families, which were found to have evolutionarily conserved putative binding sites in the 5′-flanking region or first intron of the Aqp2 gene, as well as members of EBOX, NR2, GRE, MAZ, KLF, and SP1 families corresponding to conserved sites in the 5′-flanking region of the Aqp3 gene. In addition, several novel phosphorylation sites in nuclear proteins were identified using the neutral loss-scanning LC-MS3 technique. The newly identified proteins have been incorporated into the IMCD Proteome Database (http://dir.nhlbi.nih.gov/papers/lkem/imcd/)

In mpkCCD cells, long-term regulation of aquaporin-2 by vasopressin occurs independent of protein kinase A and CREB but may involve Epac.

Contains fulltext : 108290.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Urine concentration involves the hormone vasopressin (AVP), which stimulates cAMP production in renal principal cells, resulting in translocation and transcription of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) water channels, greatly increasing the water permeability, leading to a concentrated urine. As cAMP levels decrease shortly after AVP addition, whereas AQP2 levels still increase and are maintained for days, we investigated in the present study the mechanism responsible for the AQP2 increase after long-term 1-desamino-8-d-arginine vasopressin (dDAVP) application using mouse collecting duct (mpkCCD) cells. While 30 min of dDAVP incubation strongly increased cAMP, cAMP was lower with 1 day and was even further reduced with 4 days of dDAVP, although still significantly higher than in control cells. One day of dDAVP incubation increased AQP2 promoter-dependent transcription, which was blocked by the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H89. Moreover, phosphorylation of the cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) and CRE-dependent transcription was observed after short-term dDAVP stimulation. With 4 days of dDAVP, AQP2 transcription remained elevated, but this was not blocked by H89, and CRE-dependent transcription and CREB phosphorylation were not increased. Exchange factor directly activated by cAMP (Epac) 1 and 2 were found to be endogenously expressed in mpkCCD cells. Application of dDAVP increased the expression of Epac1, while Epac2 was reduced. Incubation with a specific Epac activator after dDAVP pretreatment increased both AQP2 abundance and transcription compared with cells left unstimulated the last day. In conclusion, the PKA-CRE pathway is involved in the initial rise in AQP2 levels after dDAVP stimulation but not in the long-term effect of dDAVP. Instead, long-term regulation of AQP2 may involve the activation of Epac.1 juni 201