A role for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the development of thermotolerance in Xenopus laevis embryos

During heat shock, Xenopus laevis embryos exhibit an increase in the rate of accumulation of lactate and a loss of ATP relative to non-heat- shocked control embryos. These results suggest that heat shock stimulates a shift in energy metabolism to anaerobic glycolysis while at the same time causing an increase in the demand for ATP. We have evidence indicating that the embryo may meet such demands placed on it by increasing the levels of some glycolytic enzymes. In this report, we show that heat shock stimulates increases in the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase [( EC 1.2.1.12] GAPDH). The specific activity of GAPDH shows a significant increase after heat shock, which correlates with the accumulation of GAPDH in heat-shocked embryos as detected by immunoblotting. Increases in GAPDH-specific activity are variable, however, and are inversely proportional to the levels of specific activity in control embryos; i.e., constitutive enzyme activity. We further analyzed the heat-enhanced accumulation of GAPDH by electrophoretically separating GAPDH isozymes on nondenaturing polyacrylamide gels. Control embryos exhibit a single isozyme of GAPDH, whereas heat-shocked embryos exhibit two isozymes of GAPDH. When these isozymes are labeled with [35S]methionine, separated by nondenaturing gel electrophoresis, and analyzed by fluorography, a heat-shock protein is found to comigrate with the isozyme unique to the heat-shocked sample. Enzyme activity assays at different temperatures suggest that this isozyme has optimum enzymatic activity only at heat-shock temperatures. We have correlated a 35-kD heat-shock protein (hsp35) with GAPDH using the following evidence: this hsp comigrates with GAPDH on one-dimensional SDS polyacrylamide gels; heat-enhanced increases in GAPDH specific activity correlate with hsp35 synthesis; and hsp35 and GAPDH have similar peptide maps. This relationship also provides a compelling explanation for the restriction of hsp35 synthesis to the vegetal hemisphere cells of heat-shocked early gastrulae reported previously (Nickells, R. W., and L. W. Browder. 1985. Dev. Biol. 112:391-395)

The design of an optimal typewriter-like keyboard

This thesis investigates the design of an optimal typewriter-like keyboard. An optimal keyboard is defined as one whose design is based upon the statistics of usage of the English language and the human factors of the typists. The design goal of such a keyboard is to minimize an objective function which relates the relative digraph frequencies and the stroking times of two key combinations

Histone H4 deacetylation plays a critical role in early gene silencing during neuronal apoptosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Silencing of normal gene expression occurs early in the apoptosis of neurons, well before the cell is committed to the death pathway, and has been extensively characterized in injured retinal ganglion cells. The causative mechanism of this widespread change in gene expression is unknown. We investigated whether an epigenetic change in active chromatin, specifically histone H4 deacetylation, was an underlying mechanism of gene silencing in apoptotic retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) following an acute injury to the optic nerve.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) translocates to the nuclei of dying cells shortly after lesion of the optic nerve and is associated with an increase in nuclear HDAC activity and widespread histone deacetylation. H4 in promoters of representative genes was rapidly and indiscriminately deacetylated, regardless of the gene examined. As apoptosis progressed, H4 of silenced genes remained deacetylated, while H4 of newly activated genes regained, or even increased, its acetylated state. Inhibition of retinal HDAC activity with trichostatin A (TSA) was able to both preserve the expression of a representative RGC-specific gene and attenuate cell loss in response to optic nerve damage.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data indicate that histone deacetylation plays a central role in transcriptional dysregulation in dying RGCs. The data also suggests that HDAC3, in particular, may feature heavily in apoptotic gene silencing.</p

A C3(H20) recycling pathway is a component of the intracellular complement system

An intracellular complement system (ICS) has recently been described in immune and nonimmune human cells. This system can be activated in a convertase-independent manner from intracellular stores of the complement component C3. The source of these stores has not been rigorously investigated. In the present study, Western blotting identified a band corresponding to C3 in freshly isolated human peripheral blood cells that was absent in corresponding cell lines. One difference between native cells and cell lines was the time absent from a fluid-phase complement source; therefore, we hypothesized that loading C3 from plasma was a route of establishing intracellular C3 stores. We found that many types of human cells specifically internalized C3(H(2)O), the hydrolytic product of C3, and not native C3, from the extracellular milieu. Uptake was rapid, saturable, and sensitive to competition with unlabeled C3(H(2)O), indicating a specific mechanism of loading. Under steady-state conditions, approximately 80% of incorporated C3(H(2)O) was returned to the extracellular space. These studies identify an ICS recycling pathway for C3(H(2)O). The loaded C3(H(2)O) represents a source of C3a, and its uptake altered the cytokine profile of activated CD4(+) T cells. Importantly, these results indicate that the impact of soluble plasma factors should be considered when performing in vitro studies assessing cellular immune function

AAV2 mediated transduction of the mouse retina after optic nerve injury

PURPOSE. Gene therapy of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) has promise as a powerful therapeutic for the rescue and regeneration of these cells after optic nerve damage. However, early after damage, RGCs undergo atrophic changes, including gene silencing. It is not known if these changes will deleteriously affect transduction and transgene expression, or if the therapeutic protein can influence reactivation of the endogenous genome. METHODS. Double-transgenic mice carrying a Rosa26-(LoxP)-tdTomato reporter, and a mutant allele for the proapoptotic Bax gene were reared. The Bax mutant blocks apoptosis, but RGCs still exhibit nuclear atrophy and gene silencing. At times ranging from 1 hour to 4 weeks after optic nerve crush (ONC), eyes received an intravitreal injection of AAV2 virus carrying the Cre recombinase. Successful transduction was monitored by expression of the tdTomato reporter. Immunostaining was used to localize tdTomato expression in select cell types. RESULTS. Successful transduction of RGCs was achieved at all time points after ONC using AAV2 expressing Cre from the phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk) promoter, but not the CMV promoter. ONC promoted an increase in the transduction of cell types in the inner nuclear layer, including Müller cells and rod bipolar neurons. There was minimal evidence of transduction of amacrine cells and astrocytes in the inner retina or optic nerve. CONCLUSIONS. Damaged RGCs can be transduced and at least some endogenous genes can be subsequently activated. Optic nerve damage may change retinal architecture to allow greater penetration of an AAV2 virus to transduce several additional cell types in the inner nuclear layer

Dominant inheritance of retinal ganglion cell resistance to optic nerve crush in mice

BACKGROUND: Several neurodegenerative diseases are influenced by complex genetics that affect an individual's susceptibility, disease severity, and rate of progression. One such disease is glaucoma, a chronic neurodegenerative condition of the eye that targets and stimulates apoptosis of CNS neurons called retinal ganglion cells. Since ganglion cell death is intrinsic, it is reasonable that the genes that control this process may contribute to the complex genetics that affect ganglion cell susceptibility to disease. To determine if genetic background influences susceptibility to optic nerve damage, leading to ganglion cell death, we performed optic nerve crush on 15 different inbred lines of mice and measured ganglion cell loss. Resistant and susceptible strains were used in a reciprocal breeding strategy to examine the inheritance pattern of the resistance phenotype. Because earlier studies had implicated Bax as a susceptibility allele for ganglion cell death in the chronic neurodegenerative disease glaucoma, we conducted allelic segregation analysis and mRNA quantification to assess this gene as a candidate for the cell death phenotype. RESULTS: Inbred lines showed varying levels of susceptibility to optic nerve crush. DBA/2J mice were most resistant and BALB/cByJ mice were most susceptible. F1 mice from these lines inherited the DBA/2J phenotype, while N2 backcross mice exhibited the BALB/cByJ phenotype. F2 mice exhibited an intermediate phenotype. A Wright Formula calculation suggested as few as 2 dominant loci were linked to the resistance phenotype, which was corroborated by a Punnett Square analysis of the distribution of the mean phenotype in each cross. The levels of latent Bax mRNA were the same in both lines, and Bax alleles did not segregate with phenotype in N2 and F2 mice. CONCLUSION: Inbred mice show different levels of resistance to optic nerve crush. The resistance phenotype is heritable in a dominant fashion involving relatively few loci. Bax was excluded as a candidate gene for this phenotype

Progressive ganglion cell loss and optic nerve degeneration in DBA/2J mice is variable and asymmetric

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of the retina, characterized by the degeneration of axons in the optic nerve and retinal ganglion cell apoptosis. DBA/2J inbred mice develop chronic hereditary glaucoma and are an important model system to study the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease and novel therapeutic interventions designed to attenuate the loss of retinal ganglion cells. Although the genetics of this disease in these mice are well characterized, the etiology of its progression, particularly with respect to retinal degeneration, is not. We have used two separate labeling techniques, post-mortem DiI labeling of axons and ganglion cell-specific expression of the βGeo reporter gene, to evaluate the time course of optic nerve degeneration and ganglion cell loss, respectively, in aging mice. RESULTS: Optic nerve degeneration, characterized by axon loss and gliosis is first apparent in mice between 8 and 9 months of age. Degeneration appears to follow a retrograde course with axons dying from their proximal ends toward the globe. Although nerve damage is typically bilateral, the progression of disease is asymmetric between the eyes of individual mice. Some nerves also exhibit focal preservation of tracts of axons generally in the nasal peripheral region. Ganglion cell loss, as a function of the loss of βGeo expression, is evident in some mice between 8 and 10 months of age and is prevalent in the majority of mice older than 10.5 months. Most eyes display a uniform loss of ganglion cells throughout the retina, but many younger mice exhibit focal loss of cells in sectors extending from the optic nerve head to the retinal periphery. Similar to what we observe in the optic nerves, ganglion cell loss is often asymmetric between the eyes of the same animal. CONCLUSION: A comparison of the data collected from the two cohorts of mice used for this study suggests that the initial site of damage in this disease is to the axons in the optic nerve, followed by the subsequent death of the ganglion cell soma

Completion of BAX recruitment correlates with mitochondrial fission during apoptosis

BAX, a member of the BCL2 gene family, controls the committed step of the intrinsic apoptotic program. Mitochondrial fragmentation is a commonly observed feature of apoptosis, which occurs through the process of mitochondrial fission. BAX has consistently been associated with mitochondrial fission, yet how BAX participates in the process of mitochondrial fragmentation during apoptosis remains to be tested. Time-lapse imaging of BAX recruitment and mitochondrial fragmentation demonstrates that rapid mitochondrial fragmentation during apoptosis occurs after the complete recruitment of BAX to the mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM). The requirement of a fully functioning BAX protein for the fission process was demonstrated further in BAX/BAK-deficient HCT116 cells expressing a P168A mutant of BAX. The mutant performed fusion to restore the mitochondrial network. but was not demonstrably recruited to the MOM after apoptosis induction. Under these conditions, mitochondrial fragmentation was blocked. Additionally, we show that loss of the fission protein, dynamin-like protein 1 (DRP1), does not temporally affect the initiation time or rate of BAX recruitment, but does reduce the final level of BAX recruited to the MOM during the late phase of BAX recruitment. These correlative observations suggest a model where late-stage BAX oligomers play a functional part of the mitochondrial fragmentation machinery in apoptotic cells