Astrocyte plasticity in mice ensures continued endfoot coverage of cerebral blood vessels following injury and declines with age.

Astrocytes extend endfeet that enwrap the vasculature, and disruptions to this association which may occur in disease coincide with breaches in blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Here we investigate if focal ablation of astrocytes is sufficient to disrupt the BBB in mice. Targeted two-photon chemical apoptotic ablation of astrocytes induced a plasticity response whereby surrounding astrocytes extended processes to cover vascular vacancies. In young animals, replacement processes occur in advance of endfoot retraction, but this is delayed in aged animals. Stimulation of replacement astrocytes results in constriction of pre-capillary arterioles, suggesting that replacement astrocytes are functional. Pharmacological inhibition of pSTAT3, as well as astrocyte specific deletion of pSTAT3, reduces astrocyte replacement post-ablation, without perturbations to BBB integrity. Similar endfoot replacement occurs following astrocyte cell death due to reperfusion in a stroke model. Together, these studies uncover the ability of astrocytes to maintain cerebrovascular coverage via substitution from nearby cells.

Probing the Influence of Single-Site Mutations in the Central Cross-ß Region of Amyloid ß (1-40) Peptides.

Amyloid ß (Aß) is a peptide known to form amyloid fibrils in the brain of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease. A complete mechanistic understanding how Aß peptides form neurotoxic assemblies and how they kill neurons has not yet been achieved. Previous analysis of various Aß40 mutants could reveal the significant importance of the hydrophobic contact between the residues Phe19 and Leu34 for cell toxicity. For some mutations at Phe19, toxicity was completely abolished. In the current study, we assessed if perturbations introduced by mutations in the direct proximity of the Phe19/Leu34 contact would have similar relevance for the fibrillation kinetics, structure, dynamics and toxicity of the Aß assemblies. To this end, we rationally modified positions Phe20 or Gly33. A small library of Aß40 peptides with Phe20 mutated to Lys, Tyr or the non-proteinogenic cyclohexylalanine (Cha) or Gly33 mutated to Ala was synthesized. We used electron microscopy, circular dichroism, X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR spectroscopy, ThT fluorescence and MTT cell toxicity assays to comprehensively investigate the physicochemical properties of the Aß fibrils formed by the modified peptides as well as toxicity to a neuronal cell line. Single mutations of either Phe20 or Gly33 led to relatively drastic alterations in the Aß fibrillation kinetics but left the global, as well as the local structure, of the fibrils largely unchanged. Furthermore, the introduced perturbations caused a severe decrease or loss of cell toxicity compared to wildtype Aß40. We suggest that perturbations at position Phe20 and Gly33 affect the fibrillation pathway of Aß40 and, thereby, influence the especially toxic oligomeric species manifesting so that the region around the Phe19/Leu34 hydrophobic contact provides a promising site for the design of small molecules interfering with the Aß fibrillation pathway.

Altered Membrane Mechanics Provides a Receptor-Independent Pathway for Serotonin Action.

Serotonin, an important signaling molecule in humans, has an unexpectedly high lipid membrane affinity. The significance of this finding has evoked considerable speculation. Here we show that membrane binding by serotonin can directly modulate membrane properties and cellular function, providing an activity pathway completely independent of serotonin receptors. Atomic force microscopy shows that serotonin makes artificial lipid bilayers softer, and induces nucleation of liquid disordered domains inside the raft-like liquid-ordered domains. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy corroborates this data at the atomic level, revealing a homogeneous decrease in the order parameter of the lipid chains in the presence of serotonin. In the RN46A immortalized serotonergic neuronal cell line, extracellular serotonin enhances transferrin receptor endocytosis, even in the presence of broad-spectrum serotonin receptor and transporter inhibitors. Similarly, it increases the membrane binding and internalization of oligomeric peptides. Our results uncover a mode of serotonin-membrane interaction that can potentiate key cellular processes in a receptor-independent fashion.

PKCγ and PKCε are Differentially Activated and Modulate Neurotoxic Signaling Pathways During Oxygen Glucose Deprivation in Rat Cortical Slices.

Cerebral ischemia is known to trigger a series of intracellular events such as changes in metabolism, membrane function and intracellular transduction, which eventually leads to cell death. Many of these processes are mediated by intracellular signaling cascades that involve protein kinase activation. Among all the kinases activated, the serine/threonine kinase family, protein kinase C (PKC), particularly, has been implicated in mediating cellular response to cerebral ischemic and reperfusion injury. In this study, using oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in acute cortical slices as an in vitro model of cerebral ischemia, I show that PKC family of isozymes, specifically PKCγ and PKCε are differentially activated during OGD. Detecting the expression and activation levels of these isozymes in response to different durations of OGD insult revealed an early activation of PKCε and delayed activation of PKCγ, signifying their roles in response to different durations and stages of ischemic stress. Specific inhibition of PKCγ and PKCε significantly attenuated OGD induced cytotoxicity, rise in intracellular calcium, membrane depolarization and reactive oxygen species formation, thereby enhancing neuronal viability. This study clearly suggests that PKC family of isozymes; specifically PKCγ and PKCε are involved in OGD induced intracellular responses which lead to neuronal death. Thus isozyme specific modulation of PKC activity may serve as a promising therapeutic route for the treatment of acute cerebral ischemic injury.

Ordered and Disordered Segments of Amyloid-ß Drive Sequential Steps of the Toxic Pathway.

While the roles of intrinsically disordered protein domains in driving interprotein interactions are increasingly well-appreciated, the mechanism of toxicity of disease-causing disordered proteins remains poorly understood. A prime example is Alzheimer's disease (AD) associated amyloid beta (Aß). Aß oligomers are highly toxic partially structured peptide assemblies with a distinct ordered region (residues ∼10-40) and a shorter disordered region (residues ∼1-9). Here, we investigate the role of this disordered domain and its relation to the ordered domain in the manifestation of toxicity through a set of Aß fragments and stereoisomers designed for this purpose. We measure their effects on lipid membranes and cultured neurons, probing their toxicity, intracellular distributions, and specific molecular interactions using the techniques of confocal imaging, lattice light sheet imaging, fluorescence lifetime imaging, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Remarkably, we find that neither part-Aß10-40 or Aß1-9, is toxic by itself. The ordered part (Aß10-40) is the major determinant of how Aß attaches to lipid bilayers, enters neuronal cells, and localizes primarily in the late endosomal compartments. However, once Aß enters the cell, it is the disordered part (only when it is connected to the rest of the peptide) that has a strong and stereospecific interaction with an unknown cellular component, as demonstrated by distinct changes in the fluorescence lifetime of a fluorophore attached to the N-terminal. This interaction appears to commit Aß to the toxic pathway. Our findings correlate well with Aß sites of familial AD mutations, a significant fraction of which cluster in the disordered region. We conclude that, while the ordered region dictates attachment and cellular entry, the key to toxicity lies in the ordered part presenting the disordered part for a specific cellular interaction.

Spontaneous Fluctuations Can Guide Drug Design Strategies for Structurally Disordered Proteins.

Structure-based "rational" drug design strategies fail for diseases associated with intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). However, structural disorder allows large-amplitude spontaneous intramolecular dynamics in a protein. We demonstrate a method that exploits this dynamics to provide quantitative information about the degree of interaction of an IDP with other molecules. A candidate ligand molecule may not bind strongly, but even momentary interactions can be expected to perturb the fluctuations. We measure the amplitude and frequency of the equilibrium fluctuations of fluorescently labeled small oligomers of hIAPP (an IDP associated with type II diabetes) in a physiological solution, using nanosecond fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy. We show that the interterminal distance fluctuates at a characteristic time scale of 134 ± 10 ns, and 6.4 ± 0.2% of the population is in the "closed" (quenched) state at equilibrium. These fluctuations are affected in a dose-dependent manner by a series of small molecules known to reduce the toxicity of various amyloid peptides. The degree of interaction increases in the following order: resveratrol < epicatechin ∼ quercetin < Congo red < epigallocatechin 3-gallate. Such ordering can provide a direction for exploring the chemical space for finding stronger-binding ligands. We test the biological relevance of these measurements by measuring the effect of these molecules on the affinity of hIAPP for lipid vesicles and cell membranes. We find that the ability of a molecule to modulate intramolecular fluctuations correlates well with its ability to lower membrane affinity. We conclude that structural disorder may provide new avenues for rational drug design for IDPs.

Ring structure modifications of phenylalanine 19 increase fibrillation kinetics and reduce toxicity of amyloid ß (1-40).

We investigated the influence of the chemical structure of the phenylalanine side chain in position 19 of the 40 residue amyloid ß peptide. Side chain modifications in this position yielded fibrils of essentially unaltered morphology, structure, and dynamics, but significantly increased fibrillation kinetics and diminished the toxicity of the peptides.

Amyloid ß (1-40) Toxicity Depends on the Molecular Contact between Phenylalanine 19 and Leucine 34.

The formation of the hydrophobic contact between phenylalanine 19 (F19) and leucine 34 (L34) of amyloid ß (1-40) (Aß(1-40)) is known to be an important step in the fibrillation of Aß(1-40) peptides. Mutations of this putatively early molecular contact were shown to strongly influence the toxicity of Aß(1-40) ( Das et al. ( 2015 ) ACS Chem. Neurosci. 6 , 1290 - 1295 ). Any mutation of residue F19 completely abolished the toxicity of Aß(1-40), suggesting that a proper F19-L34 contact is crucial also for the formation of transient oligomers. In this work, we investigate a series of isomeric substitutions of L34, namely, d-leucine, isoleucine, and valine, to study further details of this molecular contact. These replacements represent very minor alterations in the Aß(1-40) structure posing the question how these alterations challenge the fibrillation kinetics, structure, dynamics, and toxicity of the Aß(1-40) aggregates. Our work involves kinetic studies using thioflavin T, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction for the analysis of the fibril morphology, and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments for local structure and molecular dynamics investigations. Combined with cell toxicity assays of the mutated Aß(1-40) peptides, the physicochemical and biological importance of the early folding contact between F19 and L34 in Aß(1-40) is underlined. This implies that the F19-L34 contact influences a broad range of different processes including the initiation of fibrillation, oligomer stability, fibril elongation, local fibril structure, and dynamics and cellular toxicity. These processes do not only cover a broad range of diverse mechanisms, but also proved to be highly sensitive to minor modulations of this crucial contact. Furthermore, our work shows that the contact is not simply mediated by general hydrophobic interactions, but also depends on stereospecific mechanisms.

Label-Free Ratiometric Imaging of Serotonin in Live Cells.

Ratiometric imaging can quantitatively measure changes in cellular analyte concentrations using specially designed fluorescent labels. We describe a label-free ratiometric imaging technique for direct detection of changes in intravesicular serotonin concentration in live cells. At higher concentrations, serotonin forms transient oligomers whose ultraviolet emission is shifted to longer wavelengths. We access the ultraviolet/blue emission using relatively benign three-photon excitation and split it into two imaging channels, whose ratio reports the concentration. The technique is sensitive at a physiologically relevant concentration range (10-150 mM serotonin). As a proof of principle, we measure the increase of intravesicular serotonin concentration with the addition of external serotonin. In general, since emission spectra of molecules are often sensitive to concentration, our method may be applicable to other natively fluorescent intracellular molecules which are present at high concentrations.