Stochastic model of Tsc1 lesions in mouse brain.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Prabhakar S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3655945 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundTuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare monogenic disorder characterized by benign tumors in multiple organs as well as a high prevalence of epilepsy, intellectual disability and autism. TSC is caused by inactivating mutations in the TSC1 or TSC2 genes. Heterozygocity induces hyperactivation of mTOR which can be inhibited by mTOR inhibitors, such as rapamycin, which have proven efficacy in the treatment of TSC-associated symptoms. The aim of the present study was (1) to identify molecular changes associated with social and cognitive deficits in the brain tissue of Tsc1+/- mice and (2) to investigate the molecular effects of rapamycin treatment, which has been shown to ameliorate genotype-related behavioural deficits.MethodsMolecular alterations in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of Tsc1+/- and control mice, with or without rapamycin treatment, were investigated. A quantitative mass spectrometry-based shotgun proteomic approach (LC-MSE) was employed as an unbiased method to detect changes in protein levels. Changes identified in the initial profiling stage were validated using selected reaction monitoring (SRM). Protein Set Enrichment Analysis was employed to identify dysregulated pathways.ResultsLC-MSE analysis of Tsc1+/- mice and controls (n = 30) identified 51 proteins changed in frontal cortex and 108 in the hippocampus. Bioinformatic analysis combined with targeted proteomic validation revealed several dysregulated molecular pathways. Using targeted assays, proteomic alterations in the hippocampus validated the pathways "myelination", "dendrite," and "oxidative stress", an upregulation of ribosomal proteins and the mTOR kinase. LC-MSE analysis was also employed on Tsc1+/- and wildtype mice (n = 34) treated with rapamycin or vehicle. Rapamycin treatment exerted a stronger proteomic effect in Tsc1+/- mice with significant changes (mainly decreased expression) in 231 and 106 proteins, respectively. The cellular pathways "oxidative stress" and "apoptosis" were found to be affected in Tsc1+/- mice and the cellular compartments "myelin sheet" and "neurofilaments" were affected by rapamycin treatment. Thirty-three proteins which were altered in Tsc1+/- mice were normalized following rapamycin treatment, amongst them oxidative stress related proteins, myelin-specific and ribosomal proteins.ConclusionsMolecular changes in the Tsc1+/- mouse brain were more prominent in the hippocampus compared to the frontal cortex. Pathways linked to myelination and oxidative stress response were prominently affected and, at least in part, normalized following rapamycin treatment. The results could aid in the identification of novel drug targets for the treatment of cognitive, social and psychiatric symptoms in autism spectrum disorders. Similar pathways have also been implicated in other psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders and could imply similar disease processes. Thus, the potential efficacy of mTOR inhibitors warrants further investigation not only for autism spectrum disorders but also for other neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
| S-EPMC5540199 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To determine how the loss of TSC induces epileptogenesis, we made use of an inducible Tsc1 knock-out mouse model. Tsc1 was homozygously deleted in all CAMK2A positive neurons. Hippocampal tissue was collected at different time points after gene deletion and during epileptogenesis, of mice of both sexes. Also, mice treated with 10mg/kg rapamycin were included in the experiment. Using RNA-seq analysis, we identified differentially expressed genes encoding either ion channel and/or genes belonging to the GO-term ‘action potential’. Of these genes, 50% were already significantly dysregulated before or just around seizure onset, suggesting that these genes could be driver genes of epileptogenesis. Of the genes encoding ion channels or belonging to the Gene Ontology term action potential, 27 were differentially expressed just before seizure onset, suggesting a potential driving role in epileptogenesis. Our data highlight the complex changes driving epileptogenesis in TSC, including the changed expression of multiple ion channels. Our study emphasizes inhibition of the TSC/mTOR signaling pathway as a promising therapeutic approach to target epilepsy in patients with TSC.
2021-11-11 | GSE164306 | GEO
Project description:BACKGROUND:Preclinical evaluation of tuberculosis drugs is generally limited to mice. However, necrosis and hypoxia, key features of human tuberculosis lesions, are lacking in conventional mouse strains. METHODS:We used C3HeB/FeJ mice, which develop necrotic lesions in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Positron emission tomography in live infected animals, postmortem pimonidazole immunohistochemistry, and bacterial gene expression analyses were used to assess whether tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ are hypoxic. Efficacy of combination drug treatment, including PA-824, active against M. tuberculosis under hypoxic conditions, was also evaluated. RESULTS:Tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ (but not BALB/c) were found to be hypoxic and associated with up-regulation of known hypoxia-associated bacterial genes (P < .001). Contrary to sustained activity reported elsewhere in BALB/c mice, moxifloxacin and pyrazinamide (MZ) combination was not bactericidal beyond 3 weeks in C3HeB/FeJ. Although PA-824 added significant activity, the novel combination of PA-824 and MZ was less effective than the standard first-line regimen in C3HeB/FeJ. CONCLUSIONS:We demonstrate that tuberculosis lesions in C3HeB/FeJ are hypoxic. Activities of some key tuberculosis drug regimens in development are represented differently in C3HeB/FeJ versus BALB/c mice. Because C3HeB/FeJ display key features of human tuberculosis, this strain warrants evaluation as a more pathologically relevant model for preclinical studies.
| S-EPMC3266133 | biostudies-literature
Project description:AimsAtherosclerosis is the primary cause of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The current study evaluated the interventional effects of a naturally occurring compound Notoginsenoside R1 (NR1) on atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice.Methods and resultsThe atherosclerotic lesion was significantly alleviated by NR1 treatment and this attenuation was marked by reduction in lipid deposition, fibrosis and oxidative stress. Increased serum levels of GSH and SOD and decreased level of MDH were observed in NR1-treated ApoE-/- mice. NR1 treatment also significantly decreased the levels of CHO, TG, ox-LDL and increased the level of HDL. Additionally, the levels of inflammatory cytokines including IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α and γ-IFN were markedly reduced in NR1-treated ApoE-/- mice. Furthermore, significantly increased aortic expression of miR-26a, miR-21, miR-126a, miR-132, miR-146 and miR-155 and decreased expression of miR-20a and miR-92a were observed in the vehicle-treated ApoE-/- mice. While NR1 treatment led to a significant reduction in the expression of miR-21, miR-26a, miR-126 and increased expression of miR-20a.ConclusionCollectively, our results demonstrated for the first time the anti-atherosclerotic effects of NR1, which could be in part mediated through its multiple targeting effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and microRNA expression. These results therefore justify further evaluation of NR1 as a therapeutic agent treating atherosclerosis.
| S-EPMC4059705 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a slowly progressive but devastating myopathy caused by loss of repression of the transcription factor DUX4; however, DUX4 expression is very low, and protein has not been detected directly in patient biopsies. Efforts to model DUX4 myopathy in mice have foundered either in being too severe, or in lacking muscle phenotypes. Here we show that the endogenous facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy-specific DUX4 polyadenylation signal is surprisingly inefficient, and use this finding to develop an facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy mouse model with muscle-specific doxycycline-regulated DUX4 expression. Very low expression levels, resulting in infrequent DUX4 + myonuclei, evoke a slow progressive degenerative myopathy. The degenerative process involves inflammation and a remarkable expansion in the fibroadipogenic progenitor compartment, leading to fibrosis. These animals also show high frequency hearing deficits and impaired skeletal muscle regeneration after injury. This mouse model will facilitate in vivo testing of therapeutics, and suggests the involvement of fibroadipogenic progenitors in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a severe myopathy that is caused by abnormal activation of DUX4, and for which a suitable mouse model does not exist. Here, the authors generate a novel mouse model with titratable expression of DUX4, and show that it recapitulates several features of the human pathology.
| S-EPMC5601940 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In comparison to other mammals, mice have proved extremely resistant to aminoglycoside-induced hair cell ablation in vivo. In this paper we examine the pattern and extent of cochlear lesions rapidly induced with a combination of a single dose of aminoglycoside (kanamycin) followed by a loop diuretic (bumetanide). With this protocol, the vestibular system was unaffected, but in the cochlea, there was extensive loss of outer hair cells (OHC) that commenced in the basal coil and progressed apically so that, by 48 h, OHC loss was almost complete. TUNEL-positive nuclei and activated caspase-3 labeling demonstrated that most OHC died via a classical apoptotic pathway. However, scattered debris within the OHC region suggested that many apoptotic cells ruptured prior to completion of apoptosis. Following lesion repair, supporting cells retained characteristics of differentiated cells but positional shift occurred. In comparison to OHC loss, inner hair cell (IHC) death was delayed and only observed in 50% of all cochleae examined even after extensive reorganization of the tissue. The coadmininstration of diuretic with FM1-43, used as a tracer for aminoglycoside uptake, indicated entry into IHC as readily as OHC, suggesting that the differential response to aminoglycoside was not due to differential uptake. Where IHC death was ongoing, there were indications of different modes of cell death: cells with morphological features of autophagy, necrosis, and apoptosis were apparent. In addition to damage to the organ of Corti, there was a significant and progressive decrease in strial thickness beginning as early as 7 days posttreatment. This was due predominantly to degeneration of marginal cells. The strial pathology resembled that reported after noise damage and with aging. This in vivo protocol provides a robust model in which to obtain extensive OHC loss in the mature cochleae of mice and is a means with which to examine different aspects of cochlear pathology in transgenic or mutant strains.
| S-EPMC2536801 | biostudies-other
Project description:Timecourse of epileptogenesis in an TSC1 inducible mouse model
| PRJNA689828 | ENA
Project description:To determine whether aquaporin-4 (AQP4) regulates acute lesions, delayed lesions, and the associated microglial activation after cryoinjury to the brain.Brain cryoinjury was applied to AQP4 knockout (KO) and wild-type mice. At 24 h and on days 7 and 14 after cryoinjury, lesion volume, neuronal loss, and densities of microglia and astrocytes were determined, and their changes were compared between AQP4 KO and wild-type mice.Lesion volume and neuronal loss in AQP4 KO mice were milder at 24 h following cryoinjury, but worsened on days 7 and 14, compared to those in wild-type mice. Besides, microglial density increased more, and astrocyte proliferation and glial scar formation were attenuated on days 7 and 14 in AQP4 KO mice.AQP4 deficiency ameliorates acute lesions, but worsens delayed lesions, perhaps due to the microgliosis in the late phase.
| S-EPMC5560290 | biostudies-other
Project description:Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant, multi-system disorder, typically involving severe neurological symptoms, such as epilepsy, cognitive deficits and autism. Two genes, TSC1 and TSC2, encoding the proteins hamartin and tuberin, respectively, have been identified as causing TSC. Although there is a substantial overlap in the clinical phenotype produced by TSC1 and TSC2 mutations, accumulating evidence indicates that TSC2 mutations cause more severe neurological manifestations than TSC1 mutations. In this study, the neurological phenotype of a novel mouse model involving conditional inactivation of the Tsc2 gene in glial-fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells (Tsc2(GFAP1)CKO mice) was characterized and compared with previously generated Tsc1(GFAP1)CKO mice. Similar to Tsc1(GFAP1)CKO mice, Tsc2(GFAP1)CKO mice exhibited epilepsy, premature death, progressive megencephaly, diffuse glial proliferation, dispersion of hippocampal pyramidal cells and decreased astrocyte glutamate transporter expression. However, Tsc2(GFAP1)CKO mice had an earlier onset and higher frequency of seizures, as well as significantly more severe histological abnormalities, compared with Tsc1(GFAP1)CKO mice. The differences between Tsc1(GFAP1)CKO and Tsc2(GFAP1)CKO mice were correlated with higher levels of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) activation in Tsc2(GFAP1)CKO mice and were reversed by the mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin. These findings provide novel evidence in mouse models that Tsc2 mutations intrinsically cause a more severe neurological phenotype than Tsc1 mutations and suggest that the difference in phenotype may be related to the degree to which Tsc1 and Tsc2 inactivation causes abnormal mTOR activation.
| S-EPMC3016907 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease caused by the clonal accumulation of dendritic Langerhans cells, which is often accompanied by osteolytic lesions. It has been reported that osteoclast-like cells play a major role in the pathogenic bone destruction seen in patients with LCH and these cells are postulated to originate from the fusion of DCs. However, due to the lack of reliable animal models the pathogenesis of LCH is still poorly understood. In this study, we have established a mouse model of histiocytosis- recapitulating human disease for osteolytic lesions seen in LCH patients. At 12 weeks after birth, severe bone lesions were observed in our multisystem histiocytosis (Mushi) model, when CD8α conventional dendritic cells (DCs) are transformed (MuTuDC) and accumulate. Most importantly, our study demonstrates that bone loss in LCH can be accounted for the transdifferentiation of MuTuDCs into functional osteoclasts both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, we have shown that injected MuTuDCs reverse the osteopetrotic phenotype of oc/oc mice in vivo. In conclusion, our results support a crucial role of DCs in bone lesions in histiocytosis patients. Furthermore, our new model of LCH based on adoptive transfer of MuTuDC lines, leading to bone lesions within 1-2 weeks, will be an important tool for investigating the pathophysiology of this disease and ultimately for evaluating the potential of anti-resorptive drugs for the treatment of bone lesions.
| S-EPMC4527720 | biostudies-literature