Activity-dependent nuclear translocation and intranuclear distribution of NFATc in adult skeletal muscle fibers

TTranscription factor nuclear factor of activated T cells NFATc (NFATc1, NFAT2) may contribute to slow-twitch skeletal muscle fiber type–specific gene expression. Green fluorescence protein (GFP) or FLAG fusion proteins of either wild-type or constitutively active mutant NFATc [NFATc(S→A)] were expressed in cultured adult mouse skeletal muscle fibers from flexor digitorum brevis (predominantly fast-twitch). Unstimulated fibers expressing NFATc(S→A) exhibited a distinct intranuclear pattern of NFATc foci. In unstimulated fibers expressing NFATc–GFP, fluorescence was localized at the sarcomeric z-lines and absent from nuclei. Electrical stimulation using activity patterns typical of slow-twitch muscle, either continuously at 10 Hz or in 5-s trains at 10 Hz every 50 s, caused cyclosporin A–sensitive appearance of fluorescent foci of NFATc–GFP in all nuclei. Fluorescence of nuclear foci increased during the first hour of stimulation and then remained constant during a second hour of stimulation. Kinase inhibitors and ionomycin caused appearance of nuclear foci of NFATc–GFP without electrical stimulation. Nuclear translocation of NFATc–GFP did not occur with either continuous 1 Hz stimulation or with the fast-twitch fiber activity pattern of 0.1-s trains at 50 Hz every 50 s. The stimulation pattern–dependent nuclear translocation of NFATc demonstrated here could thus contribute to fast-twitch to slow-twitch fiber type transformation

Expression patterns in reductive iron assimilation and functional consequences during phagocytosis of lichtheimia corymbifera , an emerging cause of mucormycosis

Iron is an essential micronutrient for most organisms and fungi are no exception. Iron uptake by fungi is facilitated by receptor-mediated internalization of siderophores, heme and reductive iron assimilation (RIA). The RIA employs three protein groups: (i) the ferric reductases (Fre5 proteins), (ii) the multicopper ferroxidases (Fet3) and (iii) the high-affinity iron permeases (Ftr1). Phenotyping under different iron concentrations revealed detrimental effects on spore swelling and hyphal formation under iron depletion, but yeast-like morphology under iron excess. Since access to iron is limited during pathogenesis, pathogens are placed under stress due to nutrient limitations. To combat this, gene duplication and differential gene expression of key iron uptake genes are utilized to acquire iron against the deleterious effects of iron depletion. In the genome of the human pathogenic fungus L. corymbifera, three, four and three copies were identified for FRE5, FTR1 and FET3 genes, respectively. As in other fungi, FET3 and FTR1 are syntenic and co-expressed in L. corymbifera. Expression of FRE5, FTR1 and FET3 genes is highly up-regulated during iron limitation (Fe-), but lower during iron excess (Fe+). Fe- dependent upregulation of gene expression takes place in LcFRE5 II and III, LcFTR1 I and II, as well as LcFET3 I and II suggesting a functional role in pathogenesis. The syntenic LcFTR1 I–LcFET3 I gene pair is co-expressed during germination, whereas LcFTR1 IILcFET3 II is co-expressed during hyphal proliferation. LcFTR1 I, II and IV were overexpressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to represent high and moderate expression of intracellular transport of Fe3+, respectively. Challenge of macrophages with the yeast mutants revealed no obvious role for LcFTR1 I, but possible functions of LcFTR1 II and IVs in recognition by macrophages. RIA expression pattern was used for a new model of interaction between L. corymbifera and macrophages

Stealth Effect of Short Polyoxazolines in Graft Copolymers: Minor Changes of Backbone End Group Determine Liver Cell-Type Specificity

Dye-loaded micelles of 10 nm diameter formed from amphiphilic graft copolymers composed of a hydrophobic poly(methyl methacrylate) backbone and hydrophilic poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) side chains with a degree of polymerization of 15 were investigated concerning their cellular interaction and uptake in vitro as well as their interaction with local and circulating cells of the reticuloendothelial system in the liver by intravital microscopy. Despite the high molar mass of the individual macromolecules (Mn ≈ 20 kg mol-1), backbone end group modification by attachment of a hydrophilic anionic fluorescent probe strongly affected the in vivo performance. To understand these effects, the end group was additionally modified by the attachment of four methacrylic acid repeating units. Although various micelles appeared similar in dynamic light scattering and cryo-transmission electron microscopy, changes in the micelles were evident from principal component analysis of the Raman spectra. Whereas an efficient stealth effect was found for micelles formed from polymers with anionically charged or thiol end groups, a hydrophobic end group altered the micelles' structure sufficiently to adapt cell-type specificity and stealth properties in the liver. © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society

Tuning the corona-core ratio of polyplex micelles for selective oligonucleotide delivery to hepatocytes or hepatic immune cells

Targeted delivery of oligonucleotides or small molecular drugs to hepatocytes, the liver's parenchymal cells, is challenging without targeting moiety due to the highly efficient mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) of the liver. The MPS comprises Kupffer cells and specialized sinusoidal endothelial cells, efficiently clearing nanocarriers regardless of their size and surface properties. Physiologically, this non-parenchymal shield protects hepatocytes; however, these local barriers must be overcome for drug delivery. Nanocarrier structural properties strongly influence tissue penetration, in vivo pharmacokinetics, and biodistribution profile. Here we demonstrate the in vivo biodistribution of polyplex micelles formed by polyion complexation of short interfering (si)RNA with modified poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(allyl glycidyl ether) (PEG-b-PAGE) diblock copolymer that carries amino moieties in the side chain. The ratio between PEG corona and siRNA complexed PAGE core of polyplex micelles was chemically varied by altering the degree of polymerization of PAGE. Applying Raman-spectroscopy and dynamic in silico modeling on the polyplex micelles, we determined the corona-core ratio (CCR) and visualized the possible micellar structure with varying CCR. The results for this model system reveal that polyplex micelles with higher CCR, i.e., better PEG coverage, exclusively accumulate and thus allow passive cell-type-specific targeting towards hepatocytes, overcoming the macrophage-rich reticuloendothelial barrier of the liver

Flotillin-dependent membrane microdomains are required for functional phagolysosomes against fungal infections

© 2020 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Lipid rafts form signaling platforms on biological membranes with incompletely characterized role in immune response to infection. Here we report that lipid-raft microdomains are essential components of phagolysosomal membranes of macrophages and depend on flotillins. Genetic deletion of flotillins demonstrates that the assembly of both major defense complexes vATPase and NADPH oxidase requires membrane microdomains. Furthermore, we describe a virulence mechanism leading to dysregulation of membrane microdomains by melanized wild-type conidia of the important human-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus resulting in reduced phagolysosomal acidification. We show that phagolysosomes with ingested melanized conidia contain a reduced amount of free Ca2+ ions and that inhibition of Ca2+-dependent calmodulin activity led to reduced lipid-raft formation. We identify a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the human FLOT1 gene resulting in heightened susceptibility for invasive aspergillosis in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. Collectively, flotillin-dependent microdomains on the phagolysosomal membrane play an essential role in protective antifungal immunity.This work was supported by the International Leibniz Research School ( ILRS ) as part of the excellence graduate school Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ( DFG ), the Leibniz Science Campus “InfectoOptics,” and the DFG -funded CRC 127 8 “PolyTarget” (project B02 to A.A.B. and Z01 to M.T.F.). C.C. and A.C were supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund ( FEDER ) ( NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 ), and by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia ( FCT ) ( SFRH/BPD/96176/2013 to C.C. and IF/00735/2014 to A.C.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Targeted delivery of a phosphoinositide 3-kinase γ inhibitor to restore organ function in sepsis

Jaundice, the clinical hallmark of infection-associated liver dysfunction, reflects altered membrane organization of the canalicular pole of hepatocytes and portends poor outcomes. Mice lacking phosphoinositide 3-kinase-γ (PI3Kγ) are protected against membrane disintegration and hepatic excretory dysfunction. However, they exhibit a severe immune defect that hinders neutrophil recruitment to sites of infection. To exploit the therapeutic potential of PI3Kγ inhibition in sepsis, a targeted approach to deliver drugs to hepatic parenchymal cells without compromising other cells, in particular immune cells, seems warranted. Here, we demonstrate that nanocarriers functionalized through DY-635, a fluorescent polymethine dye, and a ligand of organic anion transporters can selectively deliver therapeutics to hepatic parenchymal cells. Applying this strategy to a murine model of sepsis, we observed the PI3Kγ-dependent restoration of biliary canalicular architecture, maintained excretory liver function, and improved survival without impairing host defense mechanisms. This strategy carries the potential to expand targeted nanomedicines to disease entities with systemic inflammation and concomitantly impaired barrier functionality

Aspf2 From Aspergillus fumigatus Recruits Human Immune Regulators for Immune Evasion and Cell Damage

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus can cause life-threatening infections, particularly in immunocompromised patients. Most pathogenic microbes control host innate immune responses at the earliest time, already before infiltrating host immune cells arrive at the site of infection. Here, we identify Aspf2 as the first A. fumigatus Factor H-binding protein. Aspf2 recruits several human plasma regulators, Factor H, factor-H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), FHR1, and plasminogen. Factor H contacts Aspf2 via two regions located in SCRs6–7 and SCR20. FHL-1 binds via SCRs6–7, and FHR1 via SCRs3–5. Factor H and FHL-1 attached to Aspf2-maintained cofactor activity and assisted in C3b inactivation. A Δaspf2 knockout strain was generated which bound Factor H with 28% and FHL-1 with 42% lower intensity. In agreement with less immune regulator acquisition, when challenged with complement-active normal human serum, Δaspf2 conidia had substantially more C3b (>57%) deposited on their surface. Consequently, Δaspf2 conidia were more efficiently phagocytosed (>20%) and killed (44%) by human neutrophils as wild-type conidia. Furthermore, Aspf2 recruited human plasminogen and, when activated by tissue-type plasminogen activator, newly generated plasmin cleaved the chromogenic substrate S2251 and degraded fibrinogen. Furthermore, plasmin attached to conidia damaged human lung epithelial cells, induced cell retraction, and caused matrix exposure. Thus, Aspf2 is a central immune evasion protein and plasminogen ligand of A. fumigatus. By blocking host innate immune attack and by disrupting human lung epithelial cell layers, Aspf2 assists in early steps of fungal infection and likely allows tissue penetration

Egyszeri és többszörös akciós potenciálok által kiváltott kalcium jelek helyi megfigyelése és számítógépes modellezése béka és patkány szimpatikus ganglion neuronokon

In our model systems, the RyR conductance was expressed as a sum a Ca2+ independent and a Ca2+ dependent component. Even when we varied the relative contributions of these components, as well as increased or decreased the sensitivity of the RyRs’ Ca2+ conductance to cytosolic Ca2+, our model simulations always indicated that the ER Ca2+ stores behaved as net Ca2+ sinks during simulated Ca2+ transients evoked by single or multiple APs. These results agree well with existing data in mammalian sympathetic neurons (Hernández-Cruz et al., 1997; Wanaverbecq et al., 2003), but disagrees with earlier findings by ourselves and others in frog sympathetic ganglion neurons, where CICR was shown to produce a net increase of cytosolic Ca2+, both in experimental studies (Akita and Kuba, 2000; Cseresnyés and Schneider, 2004) and, more recently, in a model system as well (Patterson et al, 2007). This disagreement may simply be caused by species differences. Our results indicate that the fluorescence signal recorded from the central regions of a cell in any XY plane could be a combination of “pure” signals from more than one theoretical domain: the domain sampled in the focal plane and one or more domains above or below the focal plane. Our examinations show that it is possible, using confocal data and applying our 6-domain model, to un-mix the contaminated optical signals and thus to estimate what the “pure” signals would be in an ideal confocal section. Conclusions: From these results we concluded that spatial non-uniformity of Ca2+ responses to APs is an inherent property of frog SGNs and rat SCG neurons, and that the non-uniformity is maintained in primary cell cultures, even though the hot spots may not always be directly observable in all cultured SGNs. The hot spots possibly serve as information transmitters that signal the arrival of the AP-induced calcium signals to the cell nucleus and the axon. Our computer simulations proved to be successful in reproducing our experimental characterization of the dynamics of the intracellular local Ca2+ signals initiated by AP-induced Ca2+ entry in a multi-compartmental model. The model provided a characterization of the SCG and SGN neuronal systems in terms of Ca2+ fluxes underlying the spatio-temporal properties of local Ca2+ signals during and after single AP induced by electrical field stimulation

Peripheral Hot Spots for Local Ca2+ Release after Single Action Potentials in Sympathetic Ganglion Neurons

AbstractCa2+ release from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) contributes to Ca2+ transients in frog sympathetic ganglion neurons. Here we use video-rate confocal fluo-4 fluorescence imaging to show that single action potentials reproducibly trigger rapidly rising Ca2+ transients at 1–3 local hot spots within the peripheral ER-rich layer in intact neurons in fresh ganglia and in the majority (74%) of cultured neurons. Hot spots were located near the nucleus or the axon hillock region. Other regions exhibited either slower and smaller signals or no response. Ca2+ signals spread into the cell at constant velocity across the ER in nonnuclear regions, indicating active propagation, but spread with a (time)1/2 dependence within the nucleus, consistent with diffusion. 26% of cultured cells exhibited uniform Ca2+ signals around the periphery, but hot spots were produced by loading the cytosol with EGTA or by bathing such cells in low-Ca2+ Ringer's solution. Peripheral hot spots for Ca2+ release within the perinuclear and axon hillock regions provide a mechanism for preferential initiation of nuclear and axonal Ca2+ signals by single action potentials in sympathetic ganglion neurons