Communication impairment in ultrasonic vocal repertoire during the suckling period of Cd157 knockout mice: Transient improvement by oxytocin

Communication consists of social interaction, recognition, and information transmission. Communication ability is the most affected component in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recently, we reported that the CD157/BST1 gene is associated with ASD, and that CD157 knockout (Cd157-/-) mice display severe impairments in social behavior that are improved by oxytocin (OXT) treatment. Here, we sought to determine whether Cd157-/- mice can be used as a suitable model for communication deficits by measuring ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), especially in the early developmental stage. Call number produced in pups due to isolation from dams was higher at postnatal day (PND) 3 in knockout pups than wild-type mice, but was lower at PNDs 7 and 10. Pups of both genotypes had similarly limited voice repertoires at PND 3. Later on, at PNDs 7 and 10, while wild-type pups emitted USVs consisting of six different syllable types, knockout pups vocalized with only two types. This developmental impairment in USV emission was rescued within 30 min by intraperitoneal OXT treatment, but quickly returned to control levels after 120 min, showing a transient effect of OXT. USV impairment was partially observed in Cd157+/- heterozygous mice, but not in Cd157-/- adult male mice examined while under courtship. These results demonstrate that CD157 gene deletion results in social communication insufficiencies, and suggests that CD157 is likely involved in acoustic communication. This unique OXT-sensitive developmental delay in Cd157-/- pups may be a useful model of communicative interaction impairment in ASD. © 2017 Lopatina, Furuhara, Ishihara, Salmina and Higashida

Designing in vitro Blood-Brain Barrier Models Reproducing Alterations in Brain Aging

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) modeling in vitro is a huge area of research covering study of intercellular communications and development of BBB, establishment of specific properties that provide controlled permeability of the barrier. Current approaches in designing new BBB models include development of new (bio) scaffolds supporting barriergenesis/angiogenesis and BBB integrity; use of methods enabling modulation of BBB permeability; application of modern analytical techniques for screening the transfer of metabolites, bio-macromolecules, selected drug candidates and drug delivery systems; establishment of 3D models; application of microfluidic technologies; reconstruction of microphysiological systems with the barrier constituents. Acceptance of idea that BBB in vitro models should resemble real functional activity of the barrier in different periods of ontogenesis and in different (patho) physiological conditions leads to proposal that establishment of BBB in vitro model with alterations specific for aging brain is one of current challenges in neurosciences and bioengineering. Vascular dysfunction in the aging brain often associates with leaky BBB, alterations in perivascular microenvironment, neuroinflammation, perturbed neuronal and astroglial activity within the neurovascular unit, impairments in neurogenic niches where microvascular scaffold plays a key regulatory role. The review article is focused on aging-related alterations in BBB and current approaches to development of “aging” BBB models in vitro

Plasticity of Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells and Regulation of Angiogenesis

Adipose tissue is recognized as an important organ with metabolic, regulatory, and plastic roles. Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASCs) with self-renewal properties localize in the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) being present in a vascular niche, thereby, contributing to local regulation of angiogenesis and vessel remodeling. In the past decades, ASCs have attracted much attention from biologists and bioengineers, particularly, because of their multilineage differentiation potential, strong proliferation, and migration abilities in vitro and high resistance to oxidative stress and senescence. Current data suggest that the SVF serves as an important source of endothelial progenitors, endothelial cells, and pericytes, thereby, contributing to vessel remodeling and growth. In addition, ASCs demonstrate intriguing metabolic and interlineage plasticity, which makes them good candidates for creating regenerative therapeutic protocols, in vitro tissue models and microphysiological systems, and tissue-on-chip devices for diagnostic and regeneration-supporting purposes. This review covers recent achievements in understanding the metabolic activity within the SVF niches (lactate and NAD+ metabolism), which is critical for maintaining the pool of ASCs, and discloses their pro-angiogenic potential, particularly, in the complex therapy of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases

Differential Roles of Environmental Enrichment in Alzheimer’s Type of Neurodegeneration and Physiological Aging

Impairment of hippocampal adult neurogenesis in aging or degenerating brain is a well-known phenomenon caused by the shortage of brain stem cell pool, alterations in the local microenvironment within the neurogenic niches, or deregulation of stem cell development. Environmental enrichment (EE) has been proposed as a potent tool to restore brain functions, to prevent aging-associated neurodegeneration, and to cure neuronal deficits seen in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we report our data on the effects of environmental enrichment on hippocampal neurogenesis in vivo and neurosphere-forming capacity of hippocampal stem/progenitor cells in vitro. Two models – Alzheimer’s type of neurodegeneration and physiological brain aging – were chosen for the comparative analysis of EE effects. We found that environmental enrichment greatly affects the expression of markers specific for stem cells, progenitor cells and differentiated neurons (Pax6, Ngn2, NeuroD1, NeuN) in the hippocampus of young adult rats or rats with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model but less efficiently in aged animals. Application of time-lag mathematical model for the analysis of impedance traces obtained in real-time monitoring of cell proliferation in vitro revealed that EE could restore neurosphere-forming capacity of hippocampal stem/progenitor cells more efficiently in young adult animals (fourfold greater in the control group comparing to the AD model group) but not in the aged rats (no positive effect of environmental enrichment at all). In accordance with the results obtained in vivo, EE was almost ineffective in the recovery of hippocampal neurogenic reserve in vitro in aged, but not in amyloid-treated or young adult, rats. Therefore, EE-based neuroprotective strategies effective in Aβ-affected brain could not be directly extrapolated to aged brain

UK–Russia Researcher Links Workshop: extracellular vesicles – mechanisms of biogenesis and roles in disease pathogenesis, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, 1–5 March 2015

The UK–Russia extracellular vesicles (EVs) workshop was held at the Medical Center of the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, with 56 attendees from UK and Russian universities and research institutes. The program consisted of 6 research sessions and was focused on studies of EVs isolated from in vitro model systems or biological fluids, including blood and urine. The multidisciplinary program included presentations on mechanisms of EV biogenesis, the role of EVs in disease pathogenesis, the diagnostic value of EVs, including their quantitation and cargo load, as well as the clinical use of EVs in regenerative medicine. Methodological challenges imposed by the nanoscale size of EVs as well as targeted delivery approaches for therapeutics were considered in a separate session on technologies. The main aim of the workshop was to overview challenges confronting EV researchers and to facilitate knowledge exchange between researchers with different backgrounds and skills. Given the lack of definitive EV nomenclature, specific terms (exosomes or microvesicles) were only applied in the meeting report to studies that carried out full EV characterization, including differential ultracentrifugation isolation approaches, comprehensive protein marker characterization, and single vesicle analysis (electron microscopy and nanoparticle analysis), to ascertain EV size and morphology following the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles standardization recommendations (1,2). In studies where characterization was not conclusive, the term EV is used

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

The Eurasian (nee European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60% from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).Peer reviewe

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019)Swiss National Science Foundation | Ref. 200021_16959

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

Abstract. The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).</jats:p

Communication impairment in ultrasonic vocal repertoire during the suckling period of Cd157 knockout mice: Transient improvement by oxytocin

Communication consists of social interaction, recognition, and information transmission. Communication ability is the most affected component in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recently, we reported that the CD157/BST1 gene is associated with ASD, and that CD157 knockout (Cd157−/−) mice display severe impairments in social behavior that are improved by oxytocin (OXT) treatment. Here, we sought to determine whether Cd157−/− mice can be used as a suitable model for communication deficits by measuring ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), especially in the early developmental stage. Call number produced in pups due to isolation from dams was higher at postnatal day (PND) 3 in knockout pups than wild-type mice, but was lower at PNDs 7 and 10. Pups of both genotypes had similarly limited voice repertoires at PND 3. Later on, at PNDs 7 and 10, while wild-type pups emitted USVs consisting of six different syllable types, knockout pups vocalized with only two types. This developmental impairment in USV emission was rescued within 30 min by intraperitoneal OXT treatment, but quickly returned to control levels after 120 min, showing a transient effect of OXT. USV impairment was partially observed in Cd157+/− heterozygous mice, but not in Cd157−/− adult male mice examined while under courtship. These results demonstrate that CD157 gene deletion results in social communication insufficiencies, and suggests that CD157 is likely involved in acoustic communication. This unique OXT-sensitive developmental delay in Cd157−/− pups may be a useful model of communicative interaction impairment in ASD