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The vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP) associated protein B (VAPB) is an integral membrane protein localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The P56S mutation in VAPB has been linked to motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis type 8 (ALS8) and forms ER-like inclusions in various model systems. However, the role of wild-type and mutant VAPB in neurons is poorly understood. Here, we identified Yip1-interacting factor homologue A (YIF1A) as a new VAPB binding partner and important component in the early secretory pathway. YIF1A interacts with VAPB via its transmembrane regions, recycles between the ER and Golgi and is mainly localized to the ER-Golgi intermediate compartments (ERGICs) in rat hippocampal neurons. VAPB strongly affects the distribution of YIF1A and is required for intracellular membrane trafficking into dendrites and normal dendritic morphology. When VAPB-P56S is present, YIF1A is recruited to the VAPB-P56S clusters and loses its ERGIC localization. These data suggest that both VAPB and YIF1A are important for ER-to-Golgi transport and that missorting of YIF1A may contribute to VAPB-associated motor neuron disease.

Small-conductance calcium-activated K(+) channels (SK channels) regulate the excitability of neurons and their responsiveness to synaptic input patterns. SK channels contribute to the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) following action potential bursts, and curtail excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in neuronal dendrites. Here we review evidence that SK2 channels are expressed in rat cerebellar Purkinje cells during development and throughout adulthood, and play a key role in diverse cellular processes such as the regulation of the spike firing frequency and the modulation of calcium transients in dendritic spines. In Purkinje cells as well as in other types of neurons, SK2 channel plasticity seems to provide an important mechanism allowing these cells to adjust their intrinsic excitability and to alter the probabilities for the induction of synaptic learning correlates, such as long-term potentiation (LTP).

SummaryFibrillar protein aggregates are the major pathological hallmark of several incurable, age-related, neurodegenerative disorders. These aggregates typically contain aggregation-prone pathogenic proteins, such as amyloid-beta in Alzheimer's disease and alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease. It is, however, poorly understood how these aggregates are formed during cellular aging. Here we identify an evolutionarily highly conserved modifier of aggregation, MOAG-4, as a positive regulator of aggregate formation in C. elegans models for polyglutamine diseases. Inactivation of MOAG-4 suppresses the formation of compact polyglutamine aggregation intermediates that are required for aggregate formation. The role of MOAG-4 in driving aggregation extends to amyloid-beta and alpha-synuclein and is evolutionarily conserved in its human orthologs SERF1A and SERF2. MOAG-4/SERF appears to act independently from HSF-1-induced molecular chaperones, proteasomal degradation, and autophagy. Our results suggest that MOAG-4/SERF regulates age-related proteotoxicity through a previously unexplored pathway, which will open up new avenues for research on age-related, neurodegenerative diseases.

Mutations in superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an adult-onset progressive paralytic disease characterized by loss of motor neurons, and cause an ALS-like disease when expressed in mice. Recent data have suggested that motor neuron degeneration results from toxic actions of mutant SOD1 operating in both motor neurons and their neighboring glia, raising the question whether mutant SOD1 expression selectively in neurons is sufficient to induce disease. Here we show that neuronal expression of mutant SOD1 is sufficient to cause motor neuron degeneration and paralysis in transgenic mice with cytosolic dendritic ubiquitinated SOD1 aggregates as the dominant pathological feature. In addition, we show that crossing our neuron-specific mutant SOD1 mice with ubiquitously wild-type SOD1-expressing mice leads to dramatic wild-type SOD1 aggregation in oligodendroglia after the onset of neuronal degeneration. Together, our findings support a pathogenic scenario in which mutant SOD1 in neurons triggers neuronal degeneration, which in turn may facilitate aggregate formation in surrounding glial cells.

To obtain insight into the morphological and molecular correlates of motoneuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mice that express G93A mutant superoxide dismutase (SOD)1 (G93A mice), we have mapped and characterized 'sick' motoneurons labelled by the 'stress transcription factors' ATF3 and phospho-c-Jun. Immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization showed that a subset of motoneurons express ATF3 from a relatively early phase of disease before the onset of active caspase 3 expression and motoneuron loss. The highest number of ATF3-expressing motoneurons occurred at symptom onset. The onset of ATF3 expression correlated with the appearance of ubiquitinated neurites. Confocal double-labelling immunofluorescence showed that all ATF3-positive motoneurons were immunoreactive for phosphorylated c-Jun. Furthermore, the majority of ATF3 and phospho-c-Jun-positive motoneurons were also immunoreactive for CHOP (GADD153) and showed Golgi fragmentation. A subset of ATF3 and phosphorylated c-Jun-immunoreactive motoneurons showed an abnormal appearance characterized by a number of distinctive features, including an eccentric flattened nucleus, perikaryal accumulation of ubiquitin immunoreactivity, juxta-nuclear accumulation of the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum, and intense Hsp70 immunoreactivity. These abnormal cells were not immunoreactive for active caspase 3. We conclude that motoneurons in ALS-SOD1 mice prior to their death and disappearance experience a prolonged sick phase, characterized by the gradual accumulation of ubiquitinated material first in the neurites and subsequently the cell body.

Protease cascades are essential for many biological events, including the LH-induced process of ovulation. ADAMTS1 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin-like repeats-1) is expressed and hormonally regulated in the ovary by LH and the progesterone receptor. To determine whether other family members might be expressed and regulated in the rodent ovary, those closely related to ADAMTS1 (ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5) were analyzed in the mouse ovary by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as well as by Western blot, immunohistochemical, and immunocytochemical analyses using highly specific antibodies. Prior to ovulation, ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5 were coexpressed in granulosa cells of most follicles, whereas ADAMTS5 was also present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles. Following ovulation, ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4 (but not ADAMTS5) were expressed in multiple cell types, including those within the highly vascular ovulation cone that marks the site of follicle rupture, endothelial cells of newly forming corpora lutea, and cumulus cells within the ovulated cumulus cell-oocyte complex (COC). Versican, a substrate for ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4, colocalized with these proteases and hylauronan on the cumulus cell surface. To further characterize induction of these proteases and associated molecules, COCs and granulosa cells were isolated from preovulatory follicles and treated with FSH. In expanded COCs and differentiated granulosa cells, FSH induced expression of ADAMTS4 and versican message and protein, whereas increased levels of ADAMTS1 protein was observed in the media of granulosa cells where it was stabilized by heparin in this in vitro system. These studies provide the first evidence that ADAMTS1, ADAMTS4, and ADAMTS5 are expressed in spatiotemporal patterns that suggest distinct as well as some overlapping functions that relate to the broad expression pattern of versican in granulosa cells of small follicles, expanded COCs, and endothelial cells of the mouse ovary.

Protein aggregation is a common hallmark of a number of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and polyglutamine-expansion disorders such as Huntington's disease, but how aggregation-prone proteins lead to pathology is not known. Using a genome-wide RNAi screen in a C. elegans-model for polyglutamine aggregation, we previously identified 186 genes that suppress aggregation. Using an RNAi screen for human orthologs of these genes, we here present 26 human genes that suppress aggregation of mutant huntingtin in a human cell line. Among these are genes that have not been previously linked to mutant huntingtin aggregation. They include those encoding eukaryotic translation initiation, elongation and translation factors, and genes that have been previously associated with other neurodegenerative diseases, like the ATP-ase family gene 3-like 2 (AFG3L2) and ubiquitin-like modifier activating enzyme 1 (UBA1). Unravelling the role of these genes will broaden our understanding of the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease.

Small-conductance calcium-activated K(+) channels (SK channels) regulate the excitability of neurons and their responsiveness to synaptic input patterns. SK channels contribute to the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) following action potential bursts, and curtail excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in neuronal dendrites. Here we review evidence that SK2 channels are expressed in rat cerebellar Purkinje cells during development and throughout adulthood, and play a key role in diverse cellular processes such as the regulation of the spike firing frequency and the modulation of calcium transients in dendritic spines. In Purkinje cells as well as in other types of neurons, SK2 channel plasticity seems to provide an important mechanism allowing these cells to adjust their intrinsic excitability and to alter the probabilities for the induction of synaptic learning correlates, such as long-term potentiation (LTP).

Synaptic gain control and information storage in neural networks are mediated by alterations in synaptic transmission, such as in long-term potentiation (LTP). Here, we show using bothin vitroandin vivorecordings from the rat cerebellum that tetanization protocols for the induction of LTP at parallel fiber (PF)-to-Purkinje cell synapses can also evoke increases in intrinsic excitability. This form of intrinsic plasticity shares with LTP a requirement for the activation of protein phosphatases 1, 2A, and 2B for induction. Purkinje cell intrinsic plasticity resembles CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cell intrinsic plasticity in that it requires activity of protein kinase A (PKA) and casein kinase 2 (CK2) and is mediated by a downregulation of SK-type calcium-sensitive K conductances. In addition, Purkinje cell intrinsic plasticity similarly results in enhanced spine calcium signaling. However, there are fundamental differences: first, while in the hippocampus increases in excitability result in a higher probability for LTP induction, intrinsic plasticity in Purkinje cells lowers the probability for subsequent LTP induction. Second, intrinsic plasticity raises the spontaneous spike frequency of Purkinje cells. The latter effect does not impair tonic spike firing in the target neurons of inhibitory Purkinje cell projections in the deep cerebellar nuclei, but lowers the Purkinje cell signal-to-noise ratio, thus reducing the PF readout. These observations suggest that intrinsic plasticity accompanies LTP of active PF synapses, while it reduces at weaker, nonpotentiated synapses the probability for subsequent potentiation and lowers the impact on the Purkinje cell output.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative condition characterized by progressive motor neuron degeneration and muscle paralysis. Genetic evidence from man and mouse has indicated that mutations in the dynein/dynactin motor complex are correlated with motor neuron degeneration. In this study, we have generated transgenic mice with neuron-specific expression of Bicaudal D2 N-terminus (BICD2-N) to chronically impair dynein/dynactin function. Motor neurons expressing BICD2-N showed accumulation of dynein and dynactin in the cell body, Golgi fragmentation and several signs of impaired retrograde trafficking: the appearance of giant neurofilament swellings in the proximal axon, reduced retrograde labelling by tracer injected in the muscle and delayed expression of the injury transcription factor ATF3 after axon transection. Despite these abnormalities, BICD2-N mice did not develop signs of motor neuron degeneration and motor abnormalities. Interestingly, the BICD2-N transgene increased lifespan in 'low copy' SOD1-G93A ALS transgenic mice. Our findings indicate that impaired dynein/dynactin function can explain several pathological features observed in ALS patients, but may be beneficial in some forms of ALS.

The vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated proteins (VAPs) VAPA and VAPB interact with lipid-binding proteins carrying a short motif containing two phenylalanines in an acidic tract (FFAT motif) and targets them to the cytosolic surface of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). A genetic mutation (P56S) in the conserved major sperm protein homology domain of VAPB has been linked to motor-neuron degeneration in affected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. We report that in the CNS, VAPB is abundant in motor neurons and that the P56S substitution causes aggregation of mutant VAPB in immobile tubular ER clusters, perturbs FFAT-motif binding, and traps endogenous VAP in mutant aggregates. Expression of mutant VAPB or reduction of VAP by short hairpin RNA in primary neurons causes Golgi dispersion and cell death. VAPA and VAPB are reduced in human ALS patients and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1)-ALS-transgenic mice, suggesting that VAP family proteins may be involved in the pathogenesis of sporadic and SOD1-linked ALS. Our data support a model in which reduced levels of VAP family proteins result in decreased ER anchoring of lipid-binding proteins and cause motor neuron degeneration.

Protease cascades are essential for many biological events, including the LH-induced process of ovulation. ADAMTS1 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin-like repeats-1) is expressed and hormonally regulated in the ovary by LH and the progesterone receptor. To determine whether other family members might be expressed and regulated in the rodent ovary, those closely related to ADAMTS1 (ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5) were analyzed in the mouse ovary by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction as well as by Western blot, immunohistochemical, and immunocytochemical analyses using highly specific antibodies. Prior to ovulation, ADAMTS4 and ADAMTS5 were coexpressed in granulosa cells of most follicles, whereas ADAMTS5 was also present in granulosa cells of atretic follicles. Following ovulation, ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4 (but not ADAMTS5) were expressed in multiple cell types, including those within the highly vascular ovulation cone that marks the site of follicle rupture, endothelial cells of newly forming corpora lutea, and cumulus cells within the ovulated cumulus cell-oocyte complex (COC). Versican, a substrate for ADAMTS1 and ADAMTS4, colocalized with these proteases and hylauronan on the cumulus cell surface. To further characterize induction of these proteases and associated molecules, COCs and granulosa cells were isolated from preovulatory follicles and treated with FSH. In expanded COCs and differentiated granulosa cells, FSH induced expression of ADAMTS4 and versican message and protein, whereas increased levels of ADAMTS1 protein was observed in the media of granulosa cells where it was stabilized by heparin in this in vitro system. These studies provide the first evidence that ADAMTS1, ADAMTS4, and ADAMTS5 are expressed in spatiotemporal patterns that suggest distinct as well as some overlapping functions that relate to the broad expression pattern of versican in granulosa cells of small follicles, expanded COCs, and endothelial cells of the mouse ovary.

Background. Curcumin is a spice and a coloring food compound with a promising role in colon cancer prevention. Curcumin protects against development of colon tumors in rats treated with a colon carcinogen, in colon cancer cells curcumin can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis, it is an anti-oxidant and it can act as an anti-inflammatory agent. The aim of this study was to elucidate mechanisms and effect of curcumin in colon cancer cells using gene expression profiling. Methods. Gene expression changes in response to curcumin exposure were studied in two human colon cancer cell lines, using cDNA microarrays with four thousand human genes. HT29 cells were exposed to two different concentrations of curcumin and gene expression changes were followed in time (3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours). Gene expression changes after short-term exposure (3 or 6 hours) to curcumin were also studied in a second cell type, Caco-2 cells. Results. Gene expression changes (>1.5-fold) were found at all time points. HT29 cells were more sensitive to curcumin than Caco-2 cells. Early response genes were involved in cell cycle, signal transduction, DNA repair, gene transcription, cell adhesion and xenobiotic metabolism. In HT29 cells curcumin modulated a number of cell cycle genes of which several have a role in transition through the G2/M phase. This corresponded to a cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase as was observed by flow cytometry. Functional groups with a similar expression profile included genes involved in phase-II metabolism that were induced by curcumin after 12 and 24 hours. Expression of some cytochrome P450 genes was downregulated by curcumin in HT29 and Caco-2 cells. In addition, curcumin affected expression of metallothionein genes, tubulin genes, p53 and other genes involved in colon carcinogenesis. Conclusions. This study has extended knowledge on pathways or processes already reported to be affected by curcumin (cell cycle arrest, phase-II genes). Moreover, potential new leads to genes and pathways that could play a role in colon cancer prevention by curcumin were identified. © 2004 van Erk et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.