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TP53INP1 is a stress-induced protein, which acts as a dual positive regulator of transcription and of autophagy and whose deficiency has been linked with cancer and metabolic syndrome. Here, we addressed the unexplored role of TP53INP1 and of its Drosophila homolog dDOR in the maintenance of neuronal homeostasis under chronic stress, focusing on dopamine (DA) neurons under normal ageing- and Parkinson’s disease (PD)-related context. Trp53inp1−/− mice displayed additional loss of DA neurons in the substantia nigra compared to wild-type (WT) mice, both with ageing and in a PD model based on targeted overexpression of α-synuclein. Nigral Trp53inp1 expression of WT mice was not significantly modified with ageing but was markedly increased in the PD model. Trp53inp2 expression showed similar evolution and did not differ between WT and Trp53inp1−/− mice. In Drosophila, pan-neuronal dDOR overexpression improved survival under paraquat exposure and mitigated the progressive locomotor decline and the loss of DA neurons caused by the human α-synuclein A30P variant. dDOR overexpression in DA neurons also rescued the locomotor deficit in flies with RNAi-induced downregulation of dPINK1 or dParkin. Live imaging, confocal and electron microscopy in fat bodies, neurons, and indirect flight muscles showed that dDOR acts as a positive regulator of basal autophagy and mitophagy independently of the PINK1-mediated pathway. Analyses in a mammalian cell model confirmed that modulating TP53INP1 levels does not impact mitochondrial stress-induced PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy. These data provide the first evidence for a neuroprotective role of TP53INP1/dDOR and highlight its involvement in the regulation of autophagy and mitophagy in neurons.

International audience; Mitochondrial defects associated with respiratory chain complex I deficiency lead to heterogeneous fatal syndromes. While the role of NDUFS8, an essential subunit of the core assembly of the complex I, is established in mitochondrial diseases, the mechanisms underlying neuropathology are poorly understood. We developed a Drosophila model of NDUFS8 deficiency by knocking down the expression of its fly homologue in neurons or in glial cells. Downregulating ND23 in neurons resulted in shortened lifespan, and decreased locomotion. Although total brain ATP levels were decreased, histological analysis did not reveal any signs of neurodegeneration except for photoreceptors of the retina. Interestingly, ND23 deficiency-associated phenotypes were rescued by overexpressing the glucose transporter hGluT3 demonstrating that boosting glucose metabolism in neurons was sufficient to bypass altered mitochondrial functions and to confer neuroprotection. We then analyzed the consequences of ND23 knockdown in glial cells. In contrast to neuronal knockdown, loss of ND23 in glia did not lead to significant behavioral defects nor to reduced lifespan, but induced brain degeneration, as visualized by numerous vacuoles found all over the nervous tissue. This phenotype was accompanied by the massive accumulation of lipid droplets at the cortex-neuropile boundaries, suggesting an alteration of lipid metabolism in glia. These results demonstrate that complex I deficiency triggers metabolic alterations both in neurons and glial cells which may contribute to the neuropathology.

Long-term exposure to environmental oxidative stressors, like the herbicide paraquat (PQ), has been linked to the development of Parkinson's disease (PD), the most frequent neurodegenerative movement disorder. Paraquat is thus frequently used in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and other animal models to study PD and the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons (DNs) that characterizes this disease. Here, we show that a D1-like dopamine (DA) receptor, DAMB, actively contributes to the fast central nervous system (CNS) failure induced by PQ in the fly. First, we found that a long-term increase in neuronal DA synthesis reduced DAMB expression and protected against PQ neurotoxicity. Secondly, a striking age-related decrease in PQ resistance in young adult flies correlated with an augmentation of DAMB expression. This aging-associated increase in oxidative stress vulnerability was not observed in a DAMB-deficient mutant. Thirdly, targeted inactivation of this receptor in glutamatergic neurons (GNs) markedly enhanced the survival of Drosophila exposed to either PQ or neurotoxic levels of DA, whereas, conversely, DAMB overexpression in these cells made the flies more vulnerable to both compounds. Fourthly, a mutation in the Drosophila ryanodine receptor (RyR), which inhibits activity-induced increase in cytosolic Ca(2+), also strongly enhanced PQ resistance. Finally, we found that DAMB overexpression in specific neuronal populations arrested development of the fly and that in vivo stimulation of either DNs or GNs increased PQ susceptibility. This suggests a model for DA receptor-mediated potentiation of PQ-induced neurotoxicity. Further studies of DAMB signaling in Drosophila could have implications for better understanding DA-related neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT? • It is well known that tobramycin given as an once daily dose according to the usual recommendations needs therapeutic drug monitoring by measurement of peak and trough concentrations. In the literature, there are only few published studies on the population pharmacokinetics of once daily tobramycin in critically ill patients. Glomerular filtration rate and bodyweight were identified as covariates contributing to the inter-individual variability in the disposition of aminoglycosides. The study, by Peris-Marti et al. [24], only evaluated the pharmacodynamic effectiveness of a 4 mg kg−1 dose of tobramycin given once daily in critically ill patients. The authors concluded with a simulation showing that for a theoretical MIC of 1 or 2 mg l−1, a 7 mg kg−1 dose was required. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS? • Our results confirm the high variability of tobramycin disposition in intensive care patients and consequently the possible lack of effectiveness. • By using a population pharmacokinetic approach, two explicative covariates (height and Cockcroft creatinine clearance) added to a two-compartment model with proportional error, explained much of the inter-individual variability of tobramycin disposition in the critically ill patient population. • In a median ICU patient, simulations were performed at various dosage regimens and peak and AUC pharmacodynamic targets could not be reached simultaneously in more than 45% of the ICU patient population. Drug monitoring is required to manage efficacy and toxicity. AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the disposition of tobramycin (TOB) in critically ill patients (ICU) by a population pharmacokinetic approach, to determine the covariates involved, and to simulate tobramycin dosage regimens. METHODS Forty-nine adult ICU patients received TOB (5 mg kg−1) once daily. NonMem modelling was performed on 32 patients. The 17 other patients were used for the qualification process by normalized prediction distribution error. Then Monte Carlo simulations (MCS) were performed. RESULTS A two-compartment model with a proportional error best fitted the data. TOB total clearance (CLTOB) was significantly correlated with Cockcroft creatinine clearance (COCK) and height. TOB clearance was 4.8 ± 1.9 l h−1 (range 1.22–8.95), the volume of distribution of the central compartment was 24.7 ± 3.7 l (range 17.34–32.83) and that of the peripheral compartment and the inter-compartmental clearance were 30.6 l and 4.74 l h−1, respectively. Only 29% of the patients presented a target AUC between 80 and 125 mg l–1 h and 61% were lower than 80 mg l−1 h. After considering COCK and height, MCS showed that only 50% of the population could achieve the target AUC for the 375 and 400 mg dosages. CONCLUSION Even after taking into account COCK and height, for strains with an MIC ≤ 1 mg l−1, MCS doses evidenced that peak and AUC pharmacodynamic targets could not be reached simultaneously in more than 45% of the ICU patient population. Combination therapy in addition to drug monitoring are required to manage efficacy and toxicity.

International audience; L-glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain. Specific proteins, the Na+/K+-dependent high affinity excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs), are involved in the extracellular clearance and recycling of this amino acid. Type I synapses of the Drosophila neuromuscular junction (NMJ) similarly use L-glutamate as an excitatory transmitter. However, the localization and function of the only high-affinity glutamate reuptake transporter in Drosophila, dEAAT1, at the NMJ was unknown. Using a specific antibody and transgenic strains, we observed that dEAAT1 is present at the adult, but surprisingly not at embryonic and larval NMJ, suggesting a physiological maturation of the junction during metamorphosis. We found that dEAAT1 is not localized in motor neurons but in glial extensions that closely follow motor axons to the adult NMJ. Inactivation of the dEAAT1 gene by RNA interference generated viable adult flies that were able to walk but were flight-defective. Electrophysiological recordings of the thoracic dorso-lateral NMJ were performed in adult dEAAT1-deficient flies. The lack of dEAAT1 prolonged the duration of the individual responses to motor nerve stimulation and this effect was progressively increased during physiological trains of stimulations. Therefore, glutamate reuptake by glial cells is required to ensure normal activity of the Drosophila NMJ, but only in adult flies.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a late onset heritable neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) sequence in the protein huntingtin (Htt). Transgenic models in mice have suggested that the motor and cognitive deficits associated to this disease are triggered by extended neuronal and possibly glial dysfunction, whereas neuronal death occurs late and selectively. Here, we provide in vivo evidence that expanded polyQ peptides antagonize epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling in Drosophila glia. We targeted the expression of the polyQ-containing domain of Htt or an extended polyQ peptide alone in a subset of Drosophila glial cells, where the only fly glutamate transporter, dEAAT1, is detected. This resulted in formation of nuclear inclusions, progressive decrease in dEAAT1 transcription and shortened adult lifespan, but no significant glial cell death. We observed that brain expression of dEAAT1 is normally sustained by the EGFR-Ras-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway, suggesting that polyQ could act by antagonizing this pathway. We found that the presence of polyQ peptides indeed abolished dEAAT1 upregulation by constitutively active EGFR and potently inhibited EGFR-mediated ERK activation in fly glial cells. Long polyQ also limited the effect of activated EGFR on Drosophila eye development. Our results further indicate that the polyQ acts at an upstream step in the pathway, situated between EGFR and ERK activation. This suggests that disruption of EGFR signaling and ensuing glial cell dysfunction could play a direct role in the pathogenesis of HD and other polyQ diseases in humans.

The Drosophila excitatory amino acid transporters dEAAT1 and dEAAT2 are nervous-specific transmembrane proteins that mediate the high affinity uptake of L-glutamate or aspartate into cells. Here, we demonstrate by colocalization studies that both genes are expressed in discrete and partially overlapping subsets of differentiated glia and not in neurons in the embryonic central nervous system (CNS). We show that expression of these transporters is disrupted in mutant embryos deficient for the glial fate genes glial cells missing (gcm) and reversed polarity (repo). Conversely, ectopic expression of gcm in neuroblasts, which forces all nerve cells to adopt a glial fate, induces an ubiquitous expression of both EAAT genes in the nervous system. We also detected the dEAAT transcripts in the midline glia in late embryos and dEAAT2 in a few peripheral neurons in head sensory organs. Our results show that glia play a major role in excitatory amino acid transport in the Drosophila CNS and that regulated expression of the dEAAT genes contributes to generate the functional diversity of glial cells during embryonic development.

L-glutamate is both the major brain excitatory neurotransmitter [1, 2] and a potent neurotoxin [3, 4] in mammals. Glutamate excitotoxicity is partly responsible for cerebral traumas evoked by ischemia [5, 6] and has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) [7–9]. In contrast, very little is known about the function or potential toxicity of glutamate in the insect brain. Here, we show that decreasing glutamate buffering capacity is neurotoxic in Drosophila . We found that the only Drosophila high-affinity glutamate transporter, dEAAT1 [10–13], is selectively addressed to glial extensions that project ubiquitously through the neuropil close to synaptic areas. Inactivation of dEAAT1 by RNA interference led to characteristic behavior deficits that were significantly rescued by expression of the human glutamate transporter hEAAT2 or the administration in food of riluzole, an anti-excitotoxic agent used in the clinic for human ALS patients. Signs of oxidative stress included hypersensitivity to the free radical generator paraquat and rescue by the antioxidant melatonin. Inactivation of dEAAT1 also resulted in shortened lifespan and marked brain neuropil degeneration characterized by widespread microvacuolization and swollen mitochondria. This suggests that the dEAAT1-deficient fly provides a powerful genetic model system for molecular analysis of glutamate-mediated neurodegeneration.

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by aberrant expansion of CAG repeat in the huntingtin gene. Mutant Huntingtin (mHtt) alters multiple cellular processes, leading to neuronal dysfunction and death. Among those alterations, impaired mitochondrial metabolism seems to have a major role in HD pathogenesis. In this study, we used the Drosophila model system to further investigate the role of mitochondrial damages in HD. We first analyzed the impact of mHtt on mitochondrial morphology, and surprisingly, we revealed the formation of abnormal ring-shaped mitochondria in photoreceptor neurons. Because such mitochondrial spheroids were previously detected in cells where mitophagy is blocked, we analyzed the effect of PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1), which controls Parkin-mediated mitophagy. Consistently, we found that PINK1 overexpression alleviated mitochondrial spheroid formation in HD flies. More importantly, PINK1 ameliorated ATP levels, neuronal integrity and adult fly survival, demonstrating that PINK1 counteracts the neurotoxicity of mHtt. This neuroprotection was Parkin-dependent and required mitochondrial outer membrane proteins, mitofusin and the voltage-dependent anion channel. Consistent with our observations in flies, we demonstrated that the removal of defective mitochondria was impaired in HD striatal cells derived from HdhQ111 knock-in mice, and that overexpressing PINK1 in these cells partially restored mitophagy. The presence of mHtt did not affect Parkin-mediated mitochondrial ubiquitination but decreased the targeting of mitochondria to autophagosomes. Altogether, our findings suggest that mitophagy is altered in the presence of mHtt and that increasing PINK1/Parkin mitochondrial quality control pathway may improve mitochondrial integrity and neuroprotection in HD.