Calcium signals tune AMPK activity and mitochondrial homeostasis in dendrites of developing neurons.

Dendritic outgrowth in immature neurons is enhanced by neuronal activity and is considered one of the mechanisms of neural circuit optimization. It is known that calcium signals affect transcriptional regulation and cytoskeletal remodeling necessary for dendritic outgrowth. Here, we demonstrate that activity-dependent calcium signaling also controls mitochondrial homeostasis via AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in growing dendrites of differentiating mouse hippocampal neurons. We found that the inhibition of neuronal activity induced dendritic hypotrophy with abnormally elongated mitochondria. In growing dendrites, AMPK is activated by neuronal activity and dynamically oscillates in synchrony with calcium spikes, and this AMPK oscillation was inhibited by CaMKK2 knockdown. AMPK activation led to phosphorylation of MFF and ULK1, which initiate mitochondrial fission and mitophagy, respectively. Dendritic mitochondria in AMPK-depleted neurons exhibited impaired fission and mitophagy and displayed multiple signs of dysfunction. Genetic inhibition of fission led to dendritic hypoplasia that was reminiscent of AMPK-deficient neurons. Thus, AMPK activity is finely tuned by the calcium-CaMKK2 pathway and regulates mitochondrial homeostasis by facilitating removal of damaged components of mitochondria in growing neurons during normal brain development.

Age-associated reduction of nuclear shape dynamics in excitatory neurons of the visual cortex.

Neurons decline in their functionality over time, and age-related neuronal alterations are associated with phenotypes of neurodegenerative diseases. In nonneural tissues, an infolded nuclear shape has been proposed as a hallmark of aged cells and neurons with infolded nuclei have also been reported to be associated with neuronal activity. Here, we performed time-lapse imaging in the visual cortex of Nex-Cre;SUN1-GFP mice. Nuclear infolding was observed within 10 min of stimulation in young nuclei, while the aged nuclei were already infolded pre-stimulation and showed reduced dynamics of the morphology. In young nuclei, the depletion of the stimuli restored the nucleus to a spherical shape and reduced the dynamic behavior, suggesting that nuclear infolding is a reversible process. We also found the aged nucleus to be stiffer than the young one, further relating to the age-associated loss of nuclear shape dynamics. We reveal temporal changes in the nuclear shape upon external stimulation and observe that these morphological dynamics decrease with age.

Modeling Intestinal Stem Cell Function with Organoids.

Intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) are crucial for the digestive process and nutrient absorption. The intestinal epithelium is composed of the different cell types of the small intestine (mainly, enterocytes, goblet cells, Paneth cells, enteroendocrine cells, and tuft cells). The small intestine is characterized by the presence of crypt-villus units that are in a state of homeostatic cell turnover. Organoid technology enables an efficient expansion of intestinal epithelial tissue in vitro. Thus, organoids hold great promise for use in medical research and in the development of new treatments. At present, the cholinergic system involved in IECs and intestinal stem cells (ISCs) are attracting a great deal of attention. Thus, understanding the biological processes triggered by epithelial cholinergic activation by acetylcholine (ACh), which is produced and released from neuronal and/or non-neuronal tissue, is of key importance. Cholinergic signaling via ACh receptors plays a pivotal role in IEC growth and differentiation. Here, we discuss current views on neuronal innervation and non-neuronal control of the small intestinal crypts and their impact on ISC proliferation, differentiation, and maintenance. Since technology using intestinal organoid culture systems is advancing, we also outline an organoid-based organ replacement approach for intestinal diseases.

ABCA13 dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders causes impaired cholesterol trafficking.

ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 13 (ABCA13) is predicted to be the largest ABC protein, consisting of 5058 amino acids and a long N-terminal region. Mutations in the ABCA13 gene were reported to increase the susceptibility to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. However, little is known about the molecular functions of ABCA13 or how they associate with psychiatric disorders. Here, we examined the biochemical activity of ABCA13 using HEK293 cells transfected with mouse ABCA13. The expression of ABCA13 induced the internalization of cholesterol and gangliosides from the plasma membrane to intracellular vesicles. Cholesterol internalization by ABCA13 required the long N-terminal region and ATP hydrolysis. To examine the physiological roles of ABCA13, we generated Abca13 KO mice using CRISPR/Cas and found that these mice exhibited deficits of prepulse inhibition. Vesicular cholesterol accumulation and synaptic vesicle endocytosis were impaired in primary cultures of Abca13 KO cortical neurons. Furthermore, mutations in ABCA13 gene associated with psychiatric disorders disrupted the protein's subcellular localization and impaired cholesterol trafficking. These findings suggest that ABCA13 accelerates cholesterol internalization by endocytic retrograde transport in neurons and that loss of this function is associated with the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders.

ßIII spectrin controls the planarity of Purkinje cell dendrites by modulating perpendicular axon-dendrite interactions.

The mechanism underlying the geometrical patterning of axon and dendrite wiring remains elusive, despite its crucial importance in the formation of functional neural circuits. The cerebellar Purkinje cell (PC) arborizes a typical planar dendrite, which forms an orthogonal network with granule cell (GC) axons. By using electrospun nanofiber substrates, we reproduce the perpendicular contacts between PC dendrites and GC axons in culture. In the model system, PC dendrites show a preference to grow perpendicularly to aligned GC axons, which presumably contribute to the planar dendrite arborization in vivo We show that ßIII spectrin, a causal protein for spinocerebellar ataxia type 5, is required for the biased growth of dendrites. ßIII spectrin deficiency causes actin mislocalization and excessive microtubule invasion in dendritic protrusions, resulting in abnormally oriented branch formation. Furthermore, disease-associated mutations affect the ability of ßIII spectrin to control dendrite orientation. These data indicate that ßIII spectrin organizes the mouse dendritic cytoskeleton and thereby regulates the oriented growth of dendrites with respect to the afferent axons.

Mechanical Regulation of Nuclear Translocation in Migratory Neurons.

Neuronal migration is a critical step during the formation of functional neural circuits in the brain. Newborn neurons need to move across long distances from the germinal zone to their individual sites of function; during their migration, they must often squeeze their large, stiff nuclei, against strong mechanical stresses, through narrow spaces in developing brain tissue. Recent studies have clarified how actomyosin and microtubule motors generate mechanical forces in specific subcellular compartments and synergistically drive nuclear translocation in neurons. On the other hand, the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissues also contribute to their function as an adhesive support for cytoskeletal force transmission, while they also serve as a physical barrier to nuclear translocation. In this review, we discuss recent studies on nuclear migration in developing neurons, from both cell and mechanobiological viewpoints.

Combined Cohesin-RUNX1 Deficiency Synergistically Perturbs Chromatin Looping and Causes Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

STAG2 encodes a cohesin component and is frequently mutated in myeloid neoplasms, showing highly significant comutation patterns with other drivers, including RUNX1. However, the molecular basis of cohesin-mutated leukemogenesis remains poorly understood. Here we show a critical role of an interplay between STAG2 and RUNX1 in the regulation of enhancer-promoter looping and transcription in hematopoiesis. Combined loss of STAG2 and RUNX1, which colocalize at enhancer-rich, CTCF-deficient sites, synergistically attenuates enhancer-promoter loops, particularly at sites enriched for RNA polymerase II and Mediator, and deregulates gene expression, leading to myeloid-skewed expansion of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in mice. Attenuated enhancer-promoter loops in STAG2/RUNX1-deficient cells are associated with downregulation of genes with high basal transcriptional pausing, which are important for regulation of HSPCs. Downregulation of high-pausing genes is also confirmed in STAG2-cohesin-mutated primary leukemia samples. Our results highlight a unique STAG2-RUNX1 interplay in gene regulation and provide insights into cohesin-mutated leukemogenesis. SIGNIFICANCE: We demonstrate a critical role of an interplay between STAG2 and a master transcription factor of hematopoiesis, RUNX1, in MDS development, and further reveal their contribution to regulation of high-order chromatin structures, particularly enhancer-promoter looping, and the link between transcriptional pausing and selective gene dysregulation caused by cohesin deficiency.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 747.

Local traction force in the proximal leading process triggers nuclear translocation during neuronal migration.

Somal translocation in long bipolar neurons is regulated by actomyosin contractile forces, yet the precise spatiotemporal sites of force generation are unknown. Here we investigate the force dynamics generated during somal translocation using traction force microscopy. Neurons with a short leading process generated a traction force in the growth cone and counteracting forces in the leading and trailing processes. In contrast, neurons with a long leading process generated a force dipole with opposing traction forces in the proximal leading process during nuclear translocation. Transient accumulation of actin filaments was observed at the dipole center of the two opposing forces, which was abolished by inhibition of myosin II activity. A swelling in the leading process emerged and generated a traction force that pulled the nucleus when nuclear translocation was physically hampered. The traction force in the leading process swelling was uncoupled from somal translocation in neurons expressing a dominant negative mutant of the KASH protein, which disrupts the interaction between cytoskeletal components and the nuclear envelope. Our results suggest that the leading process is the site of generation of actomyosin-dependent traction force in long bipolar neurons, and that the traction force is transmitted to the nucleus via KASH proteins.

Multiple roles of the actin and microtubule-regulating formins in the developing brain.

Dynamic control of the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons underlie nearly every critical process during neural development, and requires multiple dimensions of regulation. Formins are a family of fifteen proteins that functions as a major class of linear actin nucleators and regulates both actin and microtubule dynamics. The fact that several closely-related formins show complementary expression patterns during neural development and non-overlapping cytoskeletal functions indicates the need to identify the specialized cellular activities of individual formin members in different neural cell subtypes. In this review, we briefly introduce the known biochemical and regulatory functions of formins in the context of neural development, and summarize their cellular functions in the developing brain.

Dynamic Contact Guidance of Myoblasts by Feature Size and Reversible Switching of Substrate Topography: Orchestration of Cell Shape, Orientation, and Nematic Ordering of Actin Cytoskeletons.

Biological cells in tissues alter their shapes, positions, and orientations in response to dynamic changes in their physical microenvironments. Here, we investigated the dynamic response of myoblast cells by fabricating substrates displaying microwrinkles that can reversibly change their direction within 60 s by axial compression and relaxation. To quantitatively assess the collective order of cells, we introduced the nematic order parameter of cells that takes not only the distribution of cell-wrinkle angles but also the degree of cell elongation into account. On the subcellular level, we also calculated the nematic order parameter of actin cytoskeletons that takes the rearrangement of actin filaments into consideration. The results obtained on substrates with different wrinkle wavelengths implied the presence of a characteristic wavelength beyond which the order parameters of both cells and actin cytoskeletons level off. Immunofluorescence labeling of vinculin showed that the focal adhesions were all concentrated on the peaks of wrinkles when the wavelength is below the characteristic value. On the other hand, we found focal adhesions on both the peaks and the troughs of wrinkles when the wavelength exceeds the characteristic level. The emergence of collective ordering of cytoskeletons and the adaptation of cell shapes and orientations were monitored by live cell imaging after the seeding of cells from suspensions. After the cells had reached the steady state, the orientation of wrinkles was abruptly changed by 90°. The dynamic response of myoblasts to the drastic change in surface topography was monitored, demonstrating the coordination of the shape and orientation of cells and the nematic ordering of actin cytoskeletons. The "dynamic" substrates established in this study can be used as a powerful tool in mechanobiology that helps us understand how cytoskeletons, cells, and cell ensembles respond to dynamic contact guidance cues.

Cytoskeletal control of nuclear migration in neurons and non-neuronal cells.

Cell migration is a complex molecular event that requires translocation of a large, stiff nucleus, oftentimes through interstitial pores of submicron size in tissues. Remarkable progress in the past decade has uncovered an ever-increasing array of diverse nuclear dynamics and underlying cytoskeletal control in various cell models. In many cases, the microtubule motors dynein and kinesin directly interact with the nucleus via the LINC complex and steer directional nuclear movement, while actomyosin contractility and its global flow exert forces to deform and move the nucleus. In this review, I focus on the synergistic interplay of the cytoskeletal motors and spatiotemporal sites of force transmission in various nuclear migration models, with a special focus on neuronal migration in the vertebrate brain.

Dendritic Self-Avoidance and Morphological Development of Cerebellar Purkinje Cells.

Cerebellar Purkinje cells arborize unique dendrites that exhibit a planar, fan shape. The dendritic branches fill the space of their receptive field with little overlap. This dendritic arrangement is well-suited to form numerous synapses with the afferent parallel fibers of the cerebellar granule cells in a non-redundant manner. Purkinje cell dendritic arbor morphology is achieved by a combination of dynamic local branch growth behaviors, including elongation, branching, and retraction. Impacting these behaviors, the self-avoidance of each branch terminal is essential to form the non-overlapping dendritic configuration. This review outlines recent advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of dendrite formation during cerebellar Purkinje cell development.

Dynamic Interaction Between Microtubules and the Nucleus Regulates Nuclear Movement During Neuronal Migration.

Fine structures of the mammalian brain are formed by neuronal migration during development. Newborn neurons migrate long distances from the germinal zone to individual sites of function by squeezing their largest cargo, the nucleus, through the crowded neural tissue. Nuclear translocation is thought to be orchestrated by microtubules, actin, and their associated motor proteins, dynein and myosin. However, where and how the cytoskeletal forces are converted to actual nuclear movement remains unclear. Using high-resolution confocal imaging of live migrating neurons, we demonstrated that microtubule-dependent forces are directly applied to the nucleus via the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton complex, and that they induce dynamic nuclear movement, including translocation, rotation, and local peaking. Microtubules bind to small points on the nuclear envelope via the minus- and plus-oriented motor proteins, dynein and kinesin-1, and generate a point force independent of the actin-dependent force. Dynamic binding of microtubule motors might cause a continuously changing net force vector acting on the nucleus and results in a stochastic and inconsistent movement of the nucleus, which are seen in crowded neural tissues.

MTSS1 Regulation of Actin-Nucleating Formin DAAM1 in Dendritic Filopodia Determines Final Dendritic Configuration of Purkinje Cells.

Dendritic filopodia of developing neurons function as environmental sensors, regulating the spatial organization of dendrites and proper targeting to presynaptic partners. Dendritic filopodia morphology is determined by the balance of F-actin assembled via two major nucleating pathways, the ARP2/3 complex and formins. The inverse-BAR protein MTSS1 is highly expressed in Purkinje cells (PCs) and has been shown to upregulate ARP2/3 activity. PCs in MTSS1 conditional knockout mice showed dendrite hypoplasia due to excessive contact-induced retraction during development. This phenotype was concomitant with elongated dendritic filopodia and was phenocopied by overactivation of the actin nucleator formin DAAM1 localized in the tips of PC dendritic protrusions. Cell biology assays including single-molecule speckle microscopy demonstrated that MTSS1's C terminus binds to DAAM1 and paused DAAM1-mediated F-actin polymerization. Thus, MTSS1 plays a dual role as a formin inhibitor and ARP2/3 activator in dendritic filopodia, determining final neuronal morphology.

Nesprins and opposing microtubule motors generate a point force that drives directional nuclear motion in migrating neurons.

Nuclear migration of newly born neurons is essential for cortex formation in the brain. The nucleus is translocated by actin and microtubules, yet the actual force generated by the interplay of these cytoskeletons remains elusive. High-resolution time-lapse observation of migrating murine cerebellar granule cells revealed that the nucleus actively rotates along the direction of its translocation, independently of centrosome motion. Pharmacological and molecular perturbation indicated that spin torque is primarily generated by microtubule motors through the LINC complex in the absence of actomyosin contractility. In contrast to the prevailing view that microtubules are uniformly oriented around the nucleus, we observed that the perinuclear microtubule arrays are of mixed polarity and both cytoplasmic dynein complex and kinesin-1 are required for nuclear rotation. Kinesin-1 can exert a point force on the nuclear envelope via association with nesprins, and loss of kinesin-1 causes failure in neuronal migration in vivo Thus, microtubules steer the nucleus and drive its rotation and translocation via a dynamic, focal interaction of nesprins with kinesin-1 and dynein, and this is necessary for neuronal migration during brain development.

Surface chemistry for cytosolic gene delivery and photothermal transgene expression by gold nanorods.

Light-inducible gene regulation has great potential for remote and noninvasive control of the fate and function of target cells. One method to achieve such control is delivery of heat shock protein (HSP) promoter-driven protein expression vectors and photothermal heaters into the cells, followed by activation by illumination. In this study, we show that gold nanorods (AuNRs) functionalized with two conventional lipids, oleate and 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane (DOTAP), are capable of efficient transfection and quick photoactivation of the HSP promoter. Use of our AuNRs (DOTAP-AuNRs) was comparable to Lipofectamine 2000 in terms of transfection efficiency, while lower in cytotoxicity. Subsequent near-infrared laser (NIR) illumination of the cells transfected by DOTAP-AuNRs for 10 s induced time- and site-specific transgene expression without significant phototoxicity, to a degree similar to that of heating the entire culture dish for 30 min. Our mechanistic studies suggest that efficient transfection and quick photoactivation of the HSP promoter (HSP70b') are due to the promoted endosomal escape of DOTAP-AuNRs. We propose a novel protocol for NIR-inducible, site-directed gene expression using an unprecedented complex of the three conventional components capable of both transfection and photothermal heating.

Thyroid Hormone Induces PGC-1α during Dendritic Outgrowth in Mouse Cerebellar Purkinje Cells.

Thyroid hormone 3,3',5-Triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) is essential for proper brain development. Perinatal loss of T3 causes severe growth defects in neurons and glia, including strong inhibition of dendrite formation in Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex. Here we show that T3 promotes dendritic outgrowth of Purkinje cells through induction of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) co-activator 1α (PGC-1α), a master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. PGC-1α expression in Purkinje cells is upregulated during dendritic outgrowth in normal mice, while it is significantly retarded in hypothyroid mice or in cultures depleted of T3. In cultured Purkinje cells, PGC-1α knockdown or molecular perturbation of PGC-1α signaling inhibits enhanced dendritic outgrowth and mitochondrial generation and activation caused by T3 treatment. In contrast, PGC-1α overexpression promotes dendrite extension even in the absence of T3. PGC-1α knockdown also downregulates dendrite formation in Purkinje cells in vivo. Our findings suggest that the growth-promoting activity of T3 is partly mediated by PGC-1α signaling in developing Purkinje cells.

Mitochondrial fission protein Drp1 regulates mitochondrial transport and dendritic arborization in cerebellar Purkinje cells.

Mitochondria dynamically change their shape by repeated fission and fusion in response to physiological and pathological conditions. Recent studies have uncovered significant roles of mitochondrial fission and fusion in neuronal functions, such as neurotransmission and spine formation. However, the contribution of mitochondrial fission to the development of dendrites remains controversial. We analyzed the function of the mitochondrial fission GTPase Drp1 in dendritic arborization in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of Drp1 in postmitotic Purkinje cells enlarged and clustered mitochondria, which failed to exit from the soma into the dendrites. The emerging dendrites lacking mitochondrial transport remained short and unstable in culture and in vivo. The dominant-negative Drp1 affected neither the basal respiratory function of mitochondria nor the survival of Purkinje cells. Enhanced ATP supply by creatine treatment, but not reduced ROS production by antioxidant treatment, restored the hypomorphic dendrites caused by inhibition of Drp1 function. Collectively, our results suggest that Drp1 is required for dendritic distribution of mitochondria and thereby regulates energy supply in growing dendritic branches in developing Purkinje cells.

Control of Spontaneous Ca2+ Transients Is Critical for Neuronal Maturation in the Developing Neocortex.

Neural activity plays roles in the later stages of development of cortical excitatory neurons, including dendritic and axonal arborization, remodeling, and synaptogenesis. However, its role in earlier stages, such as migration and dendritogenesis, is less clear. Here we investigated roles of neural activity in the maturation of cortical neurons, using calcium imaging and expression of prokaryotic voltage-gated sodium channel, NaChBac. Calcium imaging experiments showed that postmigratory neurons in layer II/III exhibited more frequent spontaneous calcium transients than migrating neurons. To test whether such an increase of neural activity may promote neuronal maturation, we elevated the activity of migrating neurons by NaChBac expression. Elevation of neural activity impeded migration, and induced premature branching of the leading process before neurons arrived at layer II/III. Many NaChBac-expressing neurons in deep cortical layers were not attached to radial glial fibers, suggesting that these neurons had stopped migration. Morphological and immunohistochemical analyses suggested that branched leading processes of NaChBac-expressing neurons differentiated into dendrites. Our results suggest that developmental control of spontaneous calcium transients is critical for maturation of cortical excitatory neurons in vivo: keeping cellular excitability low is important for migration, and increasing spontaneous neural activity may stop migration and promote dendrite formation.

Optical control of neuronal firing via photoinduced electron transfer in donor-acceptor conjugates.

A series of porphyrin-fullerene linked molecules has been synthesized to evaluate the effects of substituents and molecular structures on their charge-separation yield and the lifetime of a final charge-separated state in various hydrophilic environments. The selected high-performance molecule effectively achieved depolarization in a plasma cell membrane by visible light as well as two-photon excitation using a near-infrared light laser. Moreover, it was revealed that the depolarization can trigger neuronal firing in rat hippocampal neurons, demonstrating the potential and versatility for controlling cell functions using light.