BRD4 inhibition by JQ1 prevents high-fat diet-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy by activating PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy in vivo.

BRD4 is a member of the BET family of epigenetic regulators. Inhibition of BRD4 by the selective bromodomain inhibitor JQ1, alleviates thoracic aortic constriction-induced cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. However, whether BRD4 inhibition by JQ1 has therapeutic effect on diabetic cardiomyopathy, a major cause of heart failure in patients with Type 2 diabetes, remains unknown. Here, we discover a novel link between BRD4 and PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy during diabetic cardiomyopathy. Upregulation of BRD4 in diabetic mouse hearts inhibits PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy, resulting in accumulation of damaged mitochondria and subsequent impairment of cardiac structure and function. BRD4 inhibition by JQ1 improves mitochondrial function, and repairs the cardiac structure and function of the diabetic heart. These effects depended on rewiring of the BRD4-driven transcription and repression of PINK1. Deletion of Pink1 suppresses mitophagy, exacerbates cardiomyopathy, and abrogates the therapeutic effect of JQ1 on diabetic cardiomyopathy. Our results illustrate a valid therapeutic strategy for treating diabetic cardiomyopathy by inhibition of BRD4.

Inhibition of Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 Protects Chronic Alcoholic Liver Injury.

Activation of Kupffer cells (KCs) by gut-derived endotoxin plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver diseases (ALD). Limiting the activation of resident KCs attenuates chronic ethanol-induced liver steatosis and injury. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-1 is suggested to play a role in a number of chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, we found a significant increase of hepatic PARP activity in mice with short-term and long-term ethanol-induced ALD. Male mice on a long-term ethanol diet exhibited severe hepatic steatosis and apoptosis and enhanced KC activation and neutrophil infiltration. However, pharmacologic inhibition of PARP activity or genetic depletion of PARP1 significantly attenuated these detrimental effects in vivo. We found that inhibition of PARP1 effectively reduced hepatic expression of genes involved in lipogenesis and elevated hepatic expression of genes involved in lipolysis. Moreover, limited KC activation and neutrophil infiltration were observed in PARP1 knockout mice or PARP inhibitor-treated mice. Furthermore, in vitro experiments found that LPS-induced macrophage activation was limited by PARP inhibitor, and exposure of ethanol-treated hepatocytes to this conditioned medium further decreased the number of apoptotic and steatotic cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that PARP1 inhibition protects against long-term ethanol-induced liver injury, as indicated by limited hepatocytes steatosis, apoptosis, inflammation levels, and neutrophil infiltration, mainly by limiting KC activation during the initiation of ALD.

Effects of vagus nerve stimulation on cognitive functioning in rats with cerebral ischemia reperfusion.

BACKGROUND: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has become the most common non-pharmacological treatment for intractable drug-resistant epilepsy. However, the contribution of VNS to neurological rehabilitation following stroke has not been thoroughly examined. Therefore, we investigated the specific role of acute VNS in the recovery of cognitive functioning and the possible mechanisms involved using a cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury model in rats. METHODS: The I/R-related injury was modeled using occlusion and reperfusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCAO/R) in Sprague-Dawley rats. VNS was concurrently applied to the vagus nerve using a stimulation intensity of 1 mA at a fixed frequency of 20 Hz with a 0.4-ms bipolar pulse width. The stimulation duration and inter-train interval were both 3 s. Next, Morris water maze and shuttle-box behavioral experiments were conducted to assess the effects of VNS on the recovery of learning, memory, and inhibitory avoidance following I/R injury. Intracerebroventricular injection of N-(2-chloroethyl)-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine hydrochloride (DSP-4), a selective neurotoxin for noradrenergic neurons, was used to evaluate the role of norepinephrine (NE) as a mediator of therapeutic effects of VNS on cognitive recovery. RESULTS: Compared with the MCAO/R group, the VNS+MCAO/R group had improved spatial memory as indicated by swimming path lengths and escape latencies in the Morris water maze, and fear memory, as indicated by the avoidance conditioned response rate, mean shock duration, and avoidance time in shuttle-box behavior experiments. Compared with the VNS+MCAO/R group, the DSP-4+VNS+MCAO/R group, which had reduced NE levels in cortical and hippocampal brain regions, showed a reversal of the VNS-induced benefits on spatial and fear memory performance. CONCLUSIONS: VNS improves spatial and fear memory in a rat model of MCAO/R injury. However, a reduction in NE from the administration of DSP-4 blocks these protective effects, suggesting that NE may contribute to the influence exhibited by VNS on memory performance in rats with cerebral I/R-related injury.

Bi-module sensing device to in situ quantitatively detect hydrogen peroxide released from migrating tumor cells.

Cell migration is one of the key cell functions in physiological and pathological processes, especially in tumor metastasis. However, it is not feasible to monitor the important biochemical molecules produced during cell migrations in situ by conventional cell migration assays. Herein, for the first time a device containing both electrochemical sensing and trans-well cell migration modules was fabricated to sensitively quantify biochemical molecules released from the cell migration process in situ. The fully assembled device with a multi-wall carbon nanotube/graphene/MnO2 nanocomposite functionalized electrode was able to successfully characterize hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production from melanoma A375 cells, larynx carcinoma HEp-2 cells and liver cancer Hep G2 under serum established chemotaxis. The maximum concentration of H2O2 produced from A375, HEp-2 and Hep G2 in chemotaxis was 130 ± 1.3 nM, 70 ± 0.7 nM and 63 ± 0.7 nM, respectively. While the time required reaching the summit of H2O2 production was 3.0, 4.0 and 1.5 h for A375, HEp-2 and Hep G2, respectively. By staining the polycarbonate micropore membrane disassembled from the device, we found that the average migration rate of the A375, HEp-2 and Hep G2 cells were 98 ± 6%, 38 ± 4% and 32 ± 3%, respectively. The novel bi-module cell migration platform enables in situ investigation of cell secretion and cell function simultaneously, highlighting its potential for characterizing cell motility through monitoring H2O2 production on rare samples and for identifying underlying mechanisms of cell migration.

Fabrication of CeO2 nanoparticle-modified silk for UV protection and antibacterial applications.

To endow silk with UV-shielding ability and antibacterial activity, CeO2 nanoparticles were immobilized on silk surface via a dip-coating approach without changing silk structure. Surface density of the nanoparticles could be easily adjusted by controlling the number of dip-coating cycle. Enhanced thermal stability of the modified silk is exhibited in thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG). The excellent UV-protection ability and antibacterial property of the CeO2 nanoparticle-coated silk are demonstrated in UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and colony-forming capability test, respectively. Based on the data, it can be concluded that CeO2 nanoparticles could be used as a very promising coating material to modify silk for UV-protection and antibacterial applications.