Temporal Dynamics of Spontaneous Ca2+ Transients, ERBB4, vGLUT1, GAD1, Connexin, and Pannexin Genes in Early Stages of Human Stem Cell Neurodifferentiation

Spontaneous Ca2+ transients drive stem cell proliferation and neurodifferentiation. Deciphering the relationship between neuronal and glial human genes on one side and spontaneous Ca2+ activity on the other side is essential for our understanding of normal brain development, and for insights into the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. In the present study, forebrain neurons were derived from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (hESC-H9 and iPSC-15; 22q11.2 deletion) over a period of 21 days in vitro (DIV). Every 1–2 days, multisite optical imaging technique was applied to detect populations of cells with spontaneous Ca2+ transients. The expression levels of 14 genes of interest were analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) on the same biological samples where physiological recordings were performed. The genes analyzed include: the schizophrenia candidate gene ERBB4, connexin (Cx) genes Cx26, Cx36, Cx43, Cx45, Cx47, pannexin-1 (PNX1), neuronal markers PAX6, vGLUT1, GAD1, TUBB3, glial lineage markers BLBP, GFAP, and housekeeping gene ACTB. We found that Ca2+ signals decrease in amplitude, decrease in duration, and increase in frequency during the first 21 days of human neurodifferentiation. The expression levels of ERBB4, PAX6, GAD1, vGLUT1, BLBP, Cx36, Cx45, and PNX1 were found to be strongly positively correlated with the percentage of cells exhibiting spontaneous Ca2+ transients (“Active Cells”). While expression of BLBP, Cx45, ERBB4, GAD1, PAX6, PNX1, and vGLUT1 were correlated with short-duration and long-amplitude Ca2+ transients, Cx43, TUBB3, and Cx47 were better correlated with long-duration and short-amplitude transients. The expression dynamics of Cx26 was unrelated to any aspect of spontaneous Ca2+ activity. Four genes showed an exponential time course with a distinct onset on a given DIV. The onset of PNX1, ERBB4, and vGLUT1 occurred before, while the onset of Cx36 occurred after the first action potentials were detected in early differentiating human neurons

Potentiation of carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity and lethality in type 2 diabetic rats

ABSTRACT There is a need for well characterized and economical type 2 diabetic model that mimics the human disease. We have developed a type 2 diabetes rat model that closely resembles the diabetic patients and takes only 24 days to develop robust diabetes. Nonlethal doses of allyl alcohol (35 mg/kg i.p.), CCl 4 (2 ml/kg i.p.), or thioacetamide (300 mg/kg i.p.) yielded 80 to 100% mortality in diabetic rats. The objective of the present study was to investigate two hypotheses: higher CCl 4 bioactivation and/or inhibited compensatory tissue repair were the underlying mechanisms for increased CCl 4 hepatotoxicity in diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by feeding high fat diet followed by a single dose of streptozotocin on day 14 (45 mg/kg i.p.) and was confirmed on day 24 by hyperglycemia, normoinsulinemia, and oral glucose intolerance. Time course studies (0 -96 h) of CCl 4 (2 ml/kg i.p.) indicated that although initial liver injury was the same in nondiabetic and diabetic rats, it progressed only in the latter, culminating in hepatic failure, and death. Hepatomicrosomal CYP2E1 protein and activity, lipid peroxidation, glutathione, and 14 CCl 4 covalent binding to liver tissue were the same in both groups, suggesting that higher bioactivation-based injury is not the mechanism. Inhibited tissue repair resulted in progression of injury and death in diabetic rats, whereas in the nondiabetic rats robust tissue repair resulted in regression of injury and survival after CCl 4 administration. These studies show high sensitivity of type 2 diabetes to model hepatotoxicants and suggest that CCl 4 hepatotoxicity is potentiated due to inhibited tissue repair. Several animal models resembling type 2 diabetes either occur spontaneously or can be induced experimentally. Most of the commonly used models of type 2 diabetes are genetic and have the disadvantage of prohibitive costs, unavailability, and failure to represent etiology of human disease. Consumption of high fat diet leads to insulin resistance and is considered to be a major predisposing factor for type 2 diabetes To address this need, we have refined and characterized an existing model based on high fat diet and a single dose of streptozotocin (STZ, 45 mg/kg i.p.). The principle behind the development of type 2 diabetes is simple. High fat diet elicits insulin resistance, and the rats maintain normoglycemia due to compensatory hyperinsulinemia. Administration of STZ (45 mg/kg i.p.) decreases insulin levels, destroying a population of pancreatic ␤-cells such that the insulin-resistant rats are now unable to maintain normal glucose levels and develop hyperglycemia, even though insulin levels in these rats are comparable with normal diet-fed normoglycemic rats. This is exactly what is seen in human diabetes where insulin resistance precedes hyperglycemia, thereby making this model a good representative of human type 2 diabetic (DB) condition. Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://jpet.aspetjournals.org. DOI: 10.1124/jpet.103.058834. ABBREVIATIONS: STZ, streptozotocin; DB, diabetic; NDB, nondiabetic; ND ϩ STZ, normal diet-fed rats injected streptozotocin; TA, thioacetamide; AA, allyl alcohol; SD, Sprague-Dawley; 3 H-T, tritiated thymidine; HFD, high fat diet-fed rats injected citrate buffer; HFD ϩ STZ, high fat diet-fed rats injected streptozotocin; ND, normal diet fed rats injected citrate buffer; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; MES, 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid