543 research outputs found

    Children Seek Historical Traces of Owned Objects

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    Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141553/1/cdev12453.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141553/2/cdev12453_am.pd

    TOM40 Mediates Mitochondrial Dysfunction Induced by α-Synuclein Accumulation in Parkinson's Disease.

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    Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) accumulation/aggregation and mitochondrial dysfunction play prominent roles in the pathology of Parkinson's disease. We have previously shown that postmortem human dopaminergic neurons from PD brains accumulate high levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions. We now addressed the question, whether alterations in a component of the mitochondrial import machinery -TOM40- might contribute to the mitochondrial dysfunction and damage in PD. For this purpose, we studied levels of TOM40, mtDNA deletions, oxidative damage, energy production, and complexes of the respiratory chain in brain homogenates as well as in single neurons, using laser-capture-microdissection in transgenic mice overexpressing human wildtype α-Syn. Additionally, we used lentivirus-mediated stereotactic delivery of a component of this import machinery into mouse brain as a novel therapeutic strategy. We report here that TOM40 is significantly reduced in the brain of PD patients and in α-Syn transgenic mice. TOM40 deficits were associated with increased mtDNA deletions and oxidative DNA damage, and with decreased energy production and altered levels of complex I proteins in α-Syn transgenic mice. Lentiviral-mediated overexpression of Tom40 in α-Syn-transgenic mice brains ameliorated energy deficits as well as oxidative burden. Our results suggest that alterations in the mitochondrial protein transport machinery might contribute to mitochondrial impairment in α-Synucleinopathies

    Mitochondrial division inhibitor-1 is neuroprotective in the A53T-α-synuclein rat model of Parkinson’s disease

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    Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is involved in both familial and sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD). One of the proposed pathogenic mechanisms of α-syn mutations is mitochondrial dysfunction. However, it is not entirely clear the impact of impaired mitochondrial dynamics induced by α-syn on neurodegeneration and whether targeting this pathway has therapeutic potential. In this study we evaluated whether inhibition of mitochondrial fission is neuroprotective against α-syn overexpression in vivo. To accomplish this goal, we overexpressed human A53T-α- synuclein (hA53T-α-syn) in the rat nigrostriatal pathway, with or without treatment using the small molecule Mitochondrial Division Inhibitor-1 (mdivi-1), a putative inhibitor of the mitochondrial fission Dynamin-Related Protein-1 (Drp1). We show here that mdivi-1 reduced neurodegeneration, α-syn aggregates and normalized motor function. Mechanistically, mdivi-1 reduced mitochondrial fragmentation, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress. These in vivo results support the negative role of mutant α-syn in mitochondrial function and indicate that mdivi-1 has a high therapeutic potential for PD

    Mitochondria-Specific Accumulation of Amyloid β Induces Mitochondrial Dysfunction Leading to Apoptotic Cell Death

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    Mitochondria are best known as the essential intracellular organelles that host the homeostasis required for cellular survival, but they also have relevance in diverse disease-related conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide is the key molecule in AD pathogenesis, and has been highlighted in the implication of mitochondrial abnormality during the disease progress. Neuronal exposure to Aβ impairs mitochondrial dynamics and function. Furthermore, mitochondrial Aβ accumulation has been detected in the AD brain. However, the underlying mechanism of how Aβ affects mitochondrial function remains uncertain, and it is questionable whether mitochondrial Aβ accumulation followed by mitochondrial dysfunction leads directly to neuronal toxicity. This study demonstrated that an exogenous Aβ1–42 treatment, when applied to the hippocampal cell line of mice (specifically HT22 cells), caused a deleterious alteration in mitochondria in both morphology and function. A clathrin-mediated endocytosis blocker rescued the exogenous Aβ1–42-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the mitochondria-targeted accumulation of Aβ1–42 in HT22 cells using Aβ1–42 with a mitochondria-targeting sequence induced the identical morphological alteration of mitochondria as that observed in the APP/PS AD mouse model and exogenous Aβ1–42-treated HT22 cells. In addition, subsequent mitochondrial dysfunctions were demonstrated in the mitochondria-specific Aβ1–42 accumulation model, which proved indistinguishable from the mitochondrial impairment induced by exogenous Aβ1–42-treated HT22 cells. Finally, cellular toxicity was directly induced by mitochondria-targeted Aβ1–42 accumulation, which mimics the apoptosis process in exogenous Aβ1–42-treated HT22 cells. Taken together, these results indicate that mitochondria-targeted Aβ1–42 accumulation is the necessary and sufficient condition for Aβ-mediated mitochondria impairments, and leads directly to cellular death rather than along with other Aβ-mediated signaling alterations

    Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA

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    The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies in the range 134277134-277 GeV has been measured using the hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the ηϕ\eta - \phi plane with a cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet production with transverse energies ETjet>14E^{jet}_T>14 GeV are presented. The jet shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity (ηjet\eta^{jet}) increases and narrows as ETjetE^{jet}_T increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes. Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive production of jets with high ηjet\eta^{jet} and low ETjetE^{jet}_T. The observed broadening of the jet shape as ηjet\eta^{jet} increases is consistent with the predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure

    Implementation and first results of the KM3NeT real-time core-collapse supernova neutrino search

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    The KM3NeT research infrastructure is unconstruction in the Mediterranean Sea. KM3NeT will study atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos with two multi-purpose neutrino detectors, ARCA and ORCA, primarily aimed at GeV–PeV neutrinos. Thanks to the multi-photomultiplier tube design of the digital optical modules, KM3NeT is capable of detecting the neutrino burst from a Galactic or near-Galactic core-collapse supernova. This potential is already exploitable with the first detection units deployed in the sea. This paper describes the real-time implementation of the supernova neutrino search, operating on the two KM3NeT detectors since the first months of 2019. A quasi-online astronomy analysis is introduced to study the time profile of the detected neutrinos for especially significant events. The mechanism of generation and distribution of alerts, as well as the integration into the SNEWS and SNEWS 2.0 global alert systems, are described. The approach for the follow-up of external alerts with a search for a neutrino excess in the archival data is defined. Finally, an overview of the current detector capabilities and a report after the first two years of operation are given.Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the financial support of the funding agencies: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (contract ANR-15-CE31-0020), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Commission Européenne (FEDER fund and Marie Curie Program), Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), LabEx UnivEarthS (ANR-10-LABX-0023 and ANR-18-IDEX-0001), Paris Île-de-France Region, France; Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG, FR-18-1268), Georgia; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany; The General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), Greece; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), PRIN 2017 program (Grant NAT-NET 2017W4HA7S) Italy; Ministry of Higher Education Scientific Research and Professional Training, ICTP through Grant AF-13, Morocco; Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), the Netherlands; The National Science Centre, Poland (2015/18/E/ST2/00758); National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS), Romania; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación, Investigación y Universidades (MCIU): Programa Estatal de Generación de Conocimiento (refs. PGC2018-096663-B-C41, -A-C42, -B-C43, -B-C44) (MCIU/FEDER), Generalitat Valenciana: Prometeo (PROMETEO/2020/019), Grisolía (ref. GRISOLIA/2018/119) and GenT (refs. CIDEGENT/2018/034, /2019/043, /2020/049) programs, Junta de Andalucía (ref. A-FQM-053-UGR18), La Caixa Foundation (ref. LCF/BQ/IN17/11620019), EU: MSC program (ref. 101025085), Spain

    Several domains from VAR2CSA can induce Plasmodium falciparum adhesion-blocking antibodies

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria caused by <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>can result in several different syndromes with severe clinical consequences for the about 200 million individuals infected each year. During pregnancy, women living in endemic areas become susceptible to malaria due to lack of antibodies against a unique <it>P. falciparum </it>membrane protein, named VAR2CSA. This antigen is not expressed in childhood infections, since it binds chondroitin sulphate A (CSA) expressed on the intervillous space in the placenta. A vaccine appears possible because women acquire protective antibodies hindering sequestration in the placenta as a function of parity. A challenge for vaccine development is to design small constructs of this large antigen, which can induce broadly protective antibodies. It has previously been shown that one domain of VAR2CSA, DBL4-FCR3, induces parasite adhesion-blocking antibodies. In this study, it is demonstrated that other domains of VAR2CSA also can induce antibodies with inhibitory activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All VAR2CSA domains from the 3D7 and HB3 parasites were produced in <it>Baculovirus</it>-transfected insect cells. Groups of three rats per protein were immunized and anti-sera were tested for surface reactivity against infected erythrocytes expressing FCR3 VAR2CSA and for the ability to inhibit FCR3CSA parasite adhesion to CSA. The fine specificity of the immune sera was analysed by VAR2CSA peptide arrays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Inhibitory antibodies were induced by immunization with DBL3-HB3 T1 and DBL1-3D7. However, unlike the previously characterised DBL4-FCR3 response the inhibitory response against DBL1-3D7 and DBL3-HB3 T1 was poorly reproduced in the second rounds of immunizations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is possible to induce parasite adhesion-blocking antibodies when immunizing with a number of different VAR2CSA domains. This indicates that the CSA binding site in VAR2CSA is comprised of epitopes from different domains.</p

    Amyloid precursor protein drives down-regulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation independent of amyloid beta

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    Amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its extracellular domain, soluble APP alpha (sAPPα) play important physiological and neuroprotective roles. However, rare forms of familial Alzheimer’s disease are associated with mutations in APP that increase toxic amyloidogenic cleavage of APP and produce amyloid beta (Aβ) at the expense of sAPPα and other non-amyloidogenic fragments. Although mitochondrial dysfunction has become an established hallmark of neurotoxicity, the link between Aβ and mitochondrial function is unclear. In this study we investigated the effects of increased levels of neuronal APP or Aβ on mitochondrial metabolism and gene expression, in human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Increased non-amyloidogenic processing of APP, but not Aβ, profoundly decreased respiration and enhanced glycolysis, while mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) transcripts were decreased, without detrimental effects to cell growth. These effects cannot be ascribed to Aβ toxicity, since higher levels of endogenous Aβ in our models do not cause oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) perturbations. Similarly, chemical inhibition of β-secretase decreased mitochondrial respiration, suggesting that non-amyloidogenic processing of APP may be responsible for mitochondrial changes. Our results have two important implications, the need for caution in the interpretation of mitochondrial perturbations in models where APP is overexpressed, and a potential role of sAPPα or other non-amyloid APP fragments as acute modulators of mitochondrial metabolism
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