Calcineurin interacts with the serotonin transporter C-terminus to modulate its plasma membrane expression and serotonin uptake.

Homeostasis of serotonergic transmission critically depends on the rate of serotonin reuptake via its plasma membrane transporter (SERT). SERT activity is tightly regulated by multiple mechanisms, including physical association with intracellular proteins and post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, but these mechanisms remain partially understood. Here, we show that SERT C-terminal domain recruits both the catalytic and regulatory subunits of the Ca(2+)-activated protein phosphatase calcineurin (CaN) and that the physical association of SERT with CaN is promoted by CaN activity. Coexpression of constitutively active CaN with SERT increases SERT cell surface expression and 5-HT uptake in HEK-293 cells. It also prevents the reduction of 5-HT uptake induced by an acute treatment of cells with the protein kinase C activator ß-PMA and concomitantly decreases PMA-elicited SERT phosphorylation. In addition, constitutive activation of CaN in vivo favors 5-HT uptake in the adult mouse brain, whereas CaN inhibition reduces cerebral 5-HT uptake. Constitutive activation of CaN also decreases immobility in the forced swim test, indicative of an antidepressant-like effect of CaN. These results identify CaN as an important regulator of SERT activity in the adult brain and provide a novel molecular substrate of clinical interest for the understanding of increased risk of mood disorders in transplanted patients treated with immunosuppressive CaN inhibitors.

Olesoxime protects embryonic cortical neurons from camptothecin intoxication by a mechanism distinct from BDNF.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Olesoxime is a small cholesterol-oxime promoting rat embryonic motor neurons survival in the absence of trophic factors. Because olesoxime can substitute for neurotrophic factors in many situations, and to gain further understanding of its mechanism of action, we wondered if it could prevent neuronal death induced by camptothecin (CPT) and compared its effects with those of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: E17 rat embryonic cortical neurons were treated with olesoxime, BDNF or vehicle and intoxicated with CPT. Caspase-dependent and caspase-independent death pathways along with pro-survival pathways activation were explored. KEY RESULTS: As previously reported for BDNF, olesoxime dose-dependently delayed CPT-induced cell death. Both compounds acted downstream of p53 activation preventing cytochrome c release and caspases activation. When caspase activation was blocked, both olesoxime and BDNF provided additional neuroprotective effect, potentially through the prevention of apoptosis-inducing factor release from mitochondria. While BDNF activates both the PI3K/Akt and the ERK pathway, olesoxime induced only a late activation of the ERK pathways, which did not seem to play a major role in its neuroprotection against CPT. Rather, our results favour preserved mitochondrial membrane integrity by olesoxime. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Albeit different, olesoxime and BDNF mechanisms for neuroprotection converge to preserve mitochondrial function. These findings emphasize the importance of targeting the mitochondria in the process of neurodegeneration. Importantly olesoxime, by mimicking neurotrophin pro-survival activities without impacting PI3K/Akt and ERK signalling, may have greater therapeutic potential in many diseases where neurotrophins were considered as a therapeutic solution.

Techniques for studying inverse agonist activity of antidepressants at recombinant nonedited 5-HT(2C-INI) receptor and native neuronal 5-HT(2C) receptors.

Serotonin (5-HT)(2C) receptors play a major role in the regulation of mood, and alteration of their functional status has been implicated in the etiology of affect disorders. Correspondingly, they represent an important target for various antidepressant categories, including tricyclics, tetracyclics, mCPP derivatives, specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and agomelatine, which exhibit medium to high affinities for 5-HT(2C) receptors and behave as antagonists. Antidepressant effects of 5-HT(2C) antagonists have been attributed to a disinhibition of mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathways, which exert a beneficial influence upon mood and cognitive functions altered in depression. However, recent experimental evidence revealed a prominent role of constitutive activity in the tonic inhibitory control of dopaminergic transmission exerted by 5-HT(2C) receptors in specific brain areas such as the nucleus accumbens. Accordingly, alteration in the constitutive activity of 5-HT(2C) receptors might participate in the induction of depressed states and drugs with inverse agonist properties should themselves be effective antidepressant agents and, possibly, more active than neutral antagonists. This highlights the relevance of systematically evaluating inverse agonist versus neutral antagonist activities of antidepressants acting at 5-HT(2C) receptors. Here, we provide a detailed description of a palette of cellular assays exploiting constitutive activity of 5-HT(2C) receptor expressed in heterologous cells (such as HEK-293 cells) toward Gq-operated signaling or their constitutive association with ß-arrestins to evaluate inverse agonist activity of antidepressants. We also describe an approach allowing discrimination between inverse agonist and neutral antagonist activities of antidepressants at native constitutively active receptors expressed in cultured cortical neurons, based on previous findings indicating that prolonged treatments with inverse agonists, but not with neutral antagonists, induce functional 5-HT(2C) receptor-operated Ca²+ responses in neurons.

Inverse agonist and neutral antagonist actions of antidepressants at recombinant and native 5-hydroxytryptamine2C receptors: differential modulation of cell surface expression and signal transduction.

Despite the importance of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)(2C) (serotonin) receptors in the control of depressive states, actions of antidepressants at these receptors remain poorly characterized. This issue was addressed both in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells coexpressing unedited human 5-HT(2CINI) receptors and Galpha(q) protein and in cultured mouse cortical neurons. Indicative of constitutive activity, the inverse agonist SB206,553 decreased basal inositol phosphate (IP) production in HEK-293 cells. The tetracyclic antidepressants mirtazapine and mianserin likewise suppressed basal IP formation. Conversely, the tricyclics amitriptyline and clomipramine, the m-chlorophenylpiperazine derivatives trazodone and nefazodone, and the 5-HT reuptake inhibitors fluoxetine and citalopram were inactive alone, although they blocked 5-HT-induced IP production. Inverse agonist actions of 5-methyl-1-(3-pyridylcarbamoyl)-1,2,3,5-tetrahydropyrrolo[2,3-f]indole (SB206,553) and mirtazapine were abolished by the neutral antagonist 6-chloro-5-methyl-1-[6-(2-methylpyridin-3-yloxy)pyridin-3-ylcarbamoyl]indoline (SB242,084), which was inactive alone. As assessed by confocal microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, prolonged treatment of HEK-293 cells with SB206,553, mirtazapine, or mianserin, but not the other antidepressants, enhanced cell surface expression of 5-HT(2C) receptors: 5-HT-induced IP production was also increased, and both these actions were blocked by SB242,084. Cortical neurons were shown by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to predominantly express constitutively active 5-HT(2C) receptor isoforms. Prolonged pretreatment with SB206,553 or mirtazapine triggered an otherwise absent 5-HT-induced elevation in cytosolic Ca(2+) concentrations. SB242,084, which was inactive alone, abolished these effects of SB206,553 and mirtazapine. In conclusion, the tetracyclic antidepressants mirtazapine and mianserin, but not other clinically established antidepressants, suppress constitutive activity at recombinant and native 5-HT(2C) receptors. The clinical significance of inverse agonist versus neutral antagonist properties both during and after drug administration will be of interest to elucidate.

Differential responses of PPARalpha, PPARdelta, and PPARgamma reporter cell lines to selective PPAR synthetic ligands.

To characterize the specificity of synthetic compounds for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), three stable cell lines expressing the ligand binding domain (LBD) of human PPARalpha, PPARdelta, or PPARgamma fused to the yeast GAL4 DNA binding domain (DBD) were developed. These reporter cell lines were generated by a two-step transfection procedure. First, a stable cell line, HG5LN, expressing the reporter gene was developed. These cells were then transfected with the different receptor genes. With the help of the three PPAR reporter cell lines, we assessed the selectivity and activity of PPAR agonists GW7647, WY-14-643, L-165041, GW501516, BRL49653, ciglitazone, and pioglitazone. GW7647, L-165041, and BRL49653 were the most potent and selective agonists for hPPARalpha, hPPARdelta, and hPPARgamma, respectively. Two PPAR antagonists, GW9662 and BADGE, were also tested. GW9662 was a selective PPARgamma antagonist, whereas BADGE was a low-affinity PPAR ligand. Furthermore, GW9662 was a full antagonist on PPARgamma and PPARdelta, whereas it showed partial agonism on PPARalpha. We conclude that our stable models allow specific and sensitive measurement of PPAR ligand activities and are a high-throughput, cell-based screening tool for identifying and characterizing PPAR ligands.