Aspartoacylase-LacZ Knockin Mice: An Engineered Model of Canavan Disease

Canavan Disease (CD) is a recessive leukodystrophy caused by loss of function mutations in the gene encoding aspartoacylase (ASPA), an oligodendrocyte-enriched enzyme that hydrolyses N-acetylaspartate (NAA) to acetate and aspartate. The neurological phenotypes of different rodent models of CD vary considerably. Here we report on a novel targeted aspa mouse mutant expressing the bacterial β-Galactosidase (lacZ) gene under the control of the aspa regulatory elements. X-Gal staining in known ASPA expression domains confirms the integrity of the modified locus in heterozygous aspa lacZ-knockin (aspalacZ/+) mice. In addition, abundant ASPA expression was detected in Schwann cells. Homozygous (aspalacZ/lacZ) mutants are ASPA-deficient, show CD-like histopathology and moderate neurological impairment with behavioural deficits that are more pronounced in aspalacZ/lacZ males than females. Non-invasive ultrahigh field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed increased levels of NAA, myo-inositol and taurine in the aspalacZ/lacZ brain. Spongy degeneration was prominent in hippocampus, thalamus, brain stem, and cerebellum, whereas white matter of optic nerve and corpus callosum was spared. Intracellular vacuolisation in astrocytes coincides with axonal swellings in cerebellum and brain stem of aspalacZ/lacZ mutants indicating that astroglia may act as an osmolyte buffer in the aspa-deficient CNS. In summary, the aspalacZ mouse is an accurate model of CD and an important tool to identify novel aspects of its complex pathology

Optimization of momentum imaging systems using electric and magnetic field

International audienc

Double photoionization of H2S below the double ionization potential

International audienc

The umbrella motion of core-excited CH3 and CD3 methyl radicals

An accurate experimental and theoretical study of the lowest core excitation of CH3 and CD3 methyl radicals is presented. The complex vibrational structure of the lowest band of the x-ray absorption spectrum XAS is due to the large variation of the molecular geometry, which is planar in the ground state and pyramidal in the core-excited state. The XAS spectra of the two radicals were recorded at high resolution and assigned by theoretical simulations of the spectra, taking into account the coupling of symmetrical stretching and symmetrical bending umbrellalike deformations of the radicals. An excellent agreement between experimental and theoretical spectral profiles allowed us to accurately characterize the vibrational structure of the electronic transition. The similarities, as well as the differences, of the peculiar vibrational progression observed for the two radicals are explained by the strong anharmonicity along the umbrella coordinate and by the isotopic variation, leading to a different probing of the double-well potential energy surface of the core excited state during the nuclear motion

Momentum Imaging Study of the H2 Coulomb Explosion

International audienc

Interplay between Electronic and Nuclear Motion in the Photodouble Ionization of H2

International audienc

Probing the potential energy surface by high-resolution x-ray absorption spectroscopy: The umbrella motion of the core-excited CH3 free radical

A detailed study of the umbrellalike vibration in inner-shell spectroscopy is presented. The high-resolution x-ray absorption spectrum for the lowest lying core excitation of the CH3 free radical was recorded. High quality potential energy surfaces PES for the initial and final states of the transition were calculated as a function of the symmetrical stretching and the umbrella deformation coordinates. The strong anharmonicity along the umbrella coordinate in the double-well region of the PES of the core excited state has a strong effect on the bending vibrational progressions. The excellent agreement between the experiment and theory allows an accurate spectroscopic characterization of the vibrational structure of the electronic transition, and the estimation of the umbrella inversion time of 149 fs