bims-mireme Biomed News
on Mitochondria in regenerative medicine
Issue of 2021–06–27
eleven papers selected by
Brian Spurlock, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



  1. Free Radic Biol Med. 2021 Jun 22. pii: S0891-5849(21)00387-7. [Epub ahead of print]
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2021.06.022
  2. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2021 Jun 22. pii: S0959-4388(21)00057-X. [Epub ahead of print]69 231-240
      Neural stem cells (NSCs) undergo massive molecular and cellular changes during neuronal differentiation. These include mitochondria and metabolism remodelling, which were thought to be mostly permissive cues, but recent work indicates that they are causally linked to neurogenesis. Striking remodelling of mitochondria occurs right after mitosis of NSCs, which influences the postmitotic daughter cells towards self-renewal or differentiation. The transitioning to neuronal fate requires metabolic rewiring including increased oxidative phosphorylation activity, which drives transcriptional and epigenetic effects to influence cell fate. Mitochondria metabolic pathways also contribute in an essential way to the regulation of NSC proliferation and self-renewal. The influence of mitochondria and metabolism on neurogenesis is conserved from fly to human systems, but also displays striking differences linked to cell context or species. These new findings have important implications for our understanding of neurodevelopmental diseases and possibly human brain evolution.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.05.003
  3. Dis Model Mech. 2021 Jun 01. pii: dmm048912. [Epub ahead of print]14(6):
      Mitochondria are organelles with vital functions in almost all eukaryotic cells. Often described as the cellular 'powerhouses' due to their essential role in aerobic oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondria perform many other essential functions beyond energy production. As signaling organelles, mitochondria communicate with the nucleus and other organelles to help maintain cellular homeostasis, allow cellular adaptation to diverse stresses, and help steer cell fate decisions during development. Mitochondria have taken center stage in the research of normal and pathological processes, including normal tissue homeostasis and metabolism, neurodegeneration, immunity and infectious diseases. The central role that mitochondria assume within cells is evidenced by the broad impact of mitochondrial diseases, caused by defects in either mitochondrial or nuclear genes encoding for mitochondrial proteins, on different organ systems. In this Review, we will provide the reader with a foundation of the mitochondrial 'hardware', the mitochondrion itself, with its specific dynamics, quality control mechanisms and cross-organelle communication, including its roles as a driver of an innate immune response, all with a focus on development, disease and aging. We will further discuss how mitochondrial DNA is inherited, how its mutation affects cell and organismal fitness, and current therapeutic approaches for mitochondrial diseases in both model organisms and humans.
    Keywords:  Mitochondrial diseases; Mitochondrial fusion and fission; Mitochondrial unfolded protein response; Mitophagy; mtDNA heteroplasmy and inheritance; mtDNA-mediated innate immune response
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.048912
  4. STAR Protoc. 2021 Jun 18. 2(2): 100568
      Somatic cells can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by defined factors. Here, we describe a protocol for imaging mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening in reprogramming of somatic cells using a confocal microscope. We also describe a method to sort high and low mPTP opening somatic cells by calcein fluorescence and reprogram these sorted cells to iPSCs. These protocols are also suitable for imaging mPTP opening and uncovering the mechanisms of mPTP function in other cell fate conversions. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Ying et al. (2018).
    Keywords:  Cell Biology; Cell-based Assays; Flow Cytometry/Mass Cytometry; Metabolism; Microscopy; Stem Cells
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100568
  5. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 642681
      Since their initial discovery in 1976, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been gathering interest as a possible tool to further the development and enhancement of various therapeutics within regenerative medicine. However, our current understanding of both metabolic function and existing differences within the varying cell lineages (e.g., cells in either osteogenesis or adipogenesis) is severely lacking making it more difficult to fully realize the therapeutic potential of MSCs. Here, we reconstruct the MSC metabolic network to understand the activity of various metabolic pathways and compare their usage under different conditions and use these models to perform experimental design. We present three new genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) each representing a different MSC lineage (proliferation, osteogenesis, and adipogenesis) that are biologically feasible and have distinctive cell lineage characteristics that can be used to explore metabolic function and increase our understanding of these phenotypes. We present the most distinctive differences between these lineages when it comes to enriched metabolic subsystems and propose a possible osteogenic enhancer. Taken together, we hope these mechanistic models will aid in the understanding and therapeutic potential of MSCs.
    Keywords:  GEM; MSCs; adipogenesis; metabolic differences; metabolic reconstruction; osteogenesis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.642681
  6. Front Physiol. 2021 ;12 682091
      Skeletal muscle is composed of multinuclear cells called myofibres, which are formed by the fusion of myoblasts during development. The size of the muscle fiber and mass of skeletal muscle are altered in response to several pathological and physiological conditions. Skeletal muscle regeneration is primarily mediated by muscle stem cells called satellite cells (SCs). In response to injury, these SCs replenish myogenic progenitor cells to form new myofibers to repair damaged muscle. During myogenesis, activated SCs proliferate and differentiate to myoblast and then fuse with one another to form muscle fibers. A reduced number of SCs and an inability to undergo myogenesis may contribute to skeletal muscle disorders such as atrophy, cachexia, and sarcopenia. Myogenic regulatory factors (MRF) are transcription factors that regulate myogenesis and determines whether SCs will be in the quiescent, activated, committed, or differentiated state. Mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation and oxidative stress play a role in the determination of the fate of SCs. The potential activation and function of SCs are also affected by inflammation during skeletal muscle regeneration. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) show promise to reduce inflammation, maintain muscle mass during aging, and increase the functional capacity of the muscle. The aim of this critical review is to highlight the role of omega-3 PUFAs on the myogenic differentiation of SCs and pathways affected during the differentiation process, including mitochondrial function and inflammation from the current body of literature.
    Keywords:  inflammation; myogenesis; omega-3; satellite cell; skeletal muscle
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.682091
  7. Anal Chem. 2021 Jun 21.
      Mitophagy plays a critical role in regulating and maintaining cellular functions, particularly regulating the quantity and quality of mitochondria. In this research, a multifunctional two-photon fluorescent probe Mito-PV with improved mitochondria-anchored ability was designed. The proposed probe can track the fluctuation of polarity and viscosity in mitochondria simultaneously with two well-distinguished emissions. It can also precisely visualize the change in mitochondrial morphology (including mitochondrial form factor and length). The real-time and accurate monitoring of mitophagy under two-photon excitation was successfully achieved by utilizing probe Mito-PV through supervising the alterations of diverse mitophagy-related parameters (including colocalization coefficient, polarity, viscosity, and mitochondrial morphology). In addition, probe Mito-PV can be applied to evaluate drug bpV(phen) as an effective mitophagy inhibitor. Therefore, our work may provide a more efficient and reliable method for precisely monitoring mitophagy from multiple evaluations.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c01365
  8. Redox Biol. 2021 Jun 16. pii: S2213-2317(21)00203-2. [Epub ahead of print]45 102044
      The chief ROS formed by mitochondria are superoxide (O2·-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Superoxide is converted rapidly to H2O2 and therefore the latter is the chief ROS emitted by mitochondria into the cell. Once considered an unavoidable by-product of aerobic respiration, H2O2 is now regarded as a central mitokine used in mitochondrial redox signaling. However, it has been postulated that O2·- can also serve as a signal in mammalian cells. Progress in understanding the role of mitochondrial H2O2 in signaling is due to significant advances in the development of methods and technologies for its detection. Unfortunately, the development of techniques to selectively measure basal O2·- changes has been met with more significant hurdles due to its short half-life and the lack of specific probes. The development of sensitive techniques for the selective and real time measure of O2·- and H2O2 has come on two fronts: development of genetically encoded fluorescent proteins and small molecule reporters. In 2015, I published a detailed comprehensive review on the state of knowledge for mitochondrial ROS production and how it is controlled, which included an in-depth discussion of the up-to-date methods utilized for the detection of both superoxide (O2·-) and H2O2. In the article, I presented the challenges associated with utilizing these probes and their significance in advancing our collective understanding of ROS signaling. Since then, many other authors in the field of Redox Biology have published articles on the challenges and developments detecting O2·- and H2O2 in various organisms [1-3]. There has been significant advances in this state of knowledge, including the development of novel genetically encoded fluorescent H2O2 probes, several O2·- sensors, and the establishment of a toolkit of inhibitors and substrates for the interrogation of mitochondrial H2O2 production and the antioxidant defenses utilized to maintain the cellular H2O2 steady-state. Here, I provide an update on these methods and their implementation in furthering our understanding of how mitochondria serve as cell ROS stabilizing devices for H2O2 signaling.
    Keywords:  Methods for measuring ROS; Mitochondria; Peroxide detectors; Reactive oxygen species; Superoxide probes
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2021.102044
  9. Sci Adv. 2021 Jun;pii: eabg3012. [Epub ahead of print]7(26):
      Protein aggregation causes intracellular changes in neurons, which elicit signals to modulate proteostasis in the periphery. Beyond the nervous system, a fundamental question is whether other organs also communicate their proteostasis status to distal tissues. Here, we examine whether proteostasis of the germ line influences somatic tissues. To this end, we induce aggregation of germline-specific PGL-1 protein in germline stem cells of Caenorhabditis elegans Besides altering the intracellular mitochondrial network of germline cells, PGL-1 aggregation also reduces the mitochondrial content of somatic tissues through long-range Wnt signaling pathway. This process induces the unfolded protein response of the mitochondria in the soma, promoting somatic mitochondrial fragmentation and aggregation of proteins linked with neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thus, the proteostasis status of germline stem cells coordinates mitochondrial networks and protein aggregation through the organism.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg3012
  10. Development. 2021 Apr 15. pii: dev.194399. [Epub ahead of print]
      Adult tissues in multicellular organisms typically contain a variety of stem, progenitor and differentiated cell types arranged in a lineage hierarchy that regulates healthy tissue turnover. Lineage hierarchies in disparate tissues often exhibit common features, yet the general principles regulating their architecture are not known. Here, we provide a formal framework for understanding the relationship between cell molecular 'states' and cell 'types', based on the topology of admissible cell state trajectories. We show that a self-renewing cell type - if defined as suggested by this framework - must reside at the top of any homeostatic renewing lineage hierarchy, and only there. This architecture arises as a natural consequence of homeostasis, and indeed is the only possible way that lineage architectures can be constructed to support homeostasis in renewing tissues. Furthermore, under suitable feedback regulation, for example from the stem cell niche, we show that the property of 'stemness' is entirely determined by the cell environment, in accordance with the notion that stem cell identities are contextual and not determined by hard-wired, cell-intrinsic, characteristics.
    Keywords:  Cell state; Cell trajectories; Cell type; Self-renewal; Stem cell fate choice; Stem cell lineage
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.194399
  11. Analyst. 2021 Jun 25.
      As an indispensable biothiol, cysteine (Cys) plays a critical part in cellular redox homeostasis, and pathological and physiological processes. One of the main sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human cells is the substrate end of the respiratory chain in the mitochondrial inner membrane. Therefore, it is valuable to develop probes targeting mitochondria to detect Cys. In this work, we designed a novel fluorescent probe, 2-(2-(6-(acryloyloxy) naphthalen-2-yl) vinyl)-3-ethylbenzothiazol-3-ium (ANET). The naphthyl benzothiazole is the fluorophore group and the acrylate moiety is the Cys response site to avoid the interference of homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH). ANET combines multiple strengths for detecting Cys: targeting mitochondria, ratiometric fluorescence, high selectivity, and a large Stokes shift. After ANET reacted with Cys, the fluorescence signals changed from green (λem = 525 nm) to orange red (λem = 595 nm), and the detection limit was calculated to be 74 nM through a linear relationship between ratiometric fluorescence F595/F525 and Cys concentration. The imaging of Cys was confirmed in HepG2 cells.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1039/d1an00758k