bims-proarb Biomed News
on Proteostasis in aging and regenerative biology
Issue of 2021–09–12
seventeen papers selected by
Rich Giadone, Harvard University
  1. Autophagy Dysfunction as a Phenotypic Readout in hiPSC-Derived Neuronal Cell Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
  2. The unfolded protein response and apoptotic regulation in the human placenta due to maternal cigarette smoking and pre-eclampsia.
  3. Glycan Quality Control in and out of the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Mammalian Cells.
  4. A roadmap for the Human Developmental Cell Atlas.
  5. Oligomeric and Fibrillar Species of Aβ42 Diversely Affect Human Neural Stem Cells.
  6. Autophagy positively regulates Wnt signaling in mice with diabetic retinopathy.
  7. The Ageing Brain: Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neurodegeneration.
  8. SGnn: A Web Server for the Prediction of Prion-Like Domains Recruitment to Stress Granules Upon Heat Stress.
  9. Metformin Rescues the Impaired Osteogenesis Differentiation Ability of Rat Adipose-derived Stem Cells in High Glucose by Activating Autophagy.
  10. The OMM-severed and IMM-ubiquitinated mitochondria are intermediates of mitochondrial proteotoxicity-induced autophagy in PRKN/parkin-deficient cells.
  11. Pep4-dependent microautophagy is required for post-ER degradation of GPI-anchored proteins.
  12. Joint Degeneration in a Mouse Model of Pseudoachondroplasia: ER Stress, Inflammation, and Block of Autophagy.
  13. Impact of Amyloid-β on Platelet Mitochondrial Function and Platelet-Mediated Amyloid Aggregation in Alzheimer's Disease.
  14. The heat shock response shows plasticity in embryonic lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) exposed to repeated thermal stress.
  15. Autophagy in metabolic disease and ageing.
  16. Tau-driven degeneration of sleep- and wake-regulating neurons in Alzheimer's disease.
  17. Mitochondria-affecting small molecules ameliorate proteostasis defects associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
  1. Methods Mol Biol. 2021 Sep 07.
    Autophagy Dysfunction as a Phenotypic Readout in hiPSC-Derived Neuronal Cell Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases.
    Congxin Sun, Tatiana R Rosenstock, Malkiel A Cohen, Sovan Sarkar.
      Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic pathway for the degradation of cytoplasmic constituents in eukaryotic cells. It is the primary disposal route for selective removal of undesirable cellular materials like aggregation-prone proteins and damaged organelles for maintaining cellular homeostasis, and for bulk degradation of intracellular macromolecules and recycling the breakdown products for providing energy homeostasis during starvation. These functions of autophagy are attributed to cellular survival and thus pertinent for human health; however, malfunction of this process is detrimental to the cells, particularly for post-mitotic neurons. Thus, basal autophagy is vital for maintaining neuronal homeostasis, whereas autophagy dysfunction contributes to neurodegeneration. Defective autophagy has been demonstrated in several neurodegenerative diseases wherein pharmacological induction of autophagy is beneficial in many of these disease models. Elucidating the mechanisms underlying defective autophagy is imperative for the development of therapies targeting this process. Disease-affected human neuronal cells can be established from patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that provide a clinically relevant platform for studying disease mechanisms and drug discovery. Thus, modeling autophagy dysfunction as a phenotypic readout in patient-derived neurons provides a more direct platform for investigating the mechanisms underlying defective autophagy and evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of autophagy inducers. Toward this, several hiPSC-derived neuronal cell models of neurodegenerative diseases have been employed. In this review, we highlight the key methodologies pertaining to hiPSC maintenance and neuronal differentiation, and studying autophagy at an endogenous level in hiPSC-derived neuronal cells.
    Keywords:  Autophagosome; Autophagy; Autophagy dysfunction; Autophagy inducer; Autophagy substrate; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; LC3; Neurodegenerative disease; Neuronal differentiation; hiPSC-derived neurons; p62
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2021_420
  2. Reprod Toxicol. 2021 Sep 04. pii: S0890-6238(21)00138-6. [Epub ahead of print]105 120-127
    The unfolded protein response and apoptotic regulation in the human placenta due to maternal cigarette smoking and pre-eclampsia.
    S Thomson, K A Waters, A Hennessy, R Machaalani.
      Maternal cigarette smoking (CS) and pre-eclampsia (PE) alter placental function and expression of important proteins which maintain homeostasis. Two interlinked pathways of interest are the unfolded protein response (UPR) and apoptosis. The UPR is upregulated in the PE placenta, but no data is available on the effects of CS and how it correlates with apoptotic expression. Samples of human placental tissue from normotensive non-smokers (n = 8), women with PE (n = 8), and CS (n = 8) were analysed using immunohistochemistry for 3 UPR markers (phosphorylated PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum (ER) kinase (pPERK), inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1), activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6)), and an antibody microarray for 19 apoptotic and stress regulating markers. For the PE group compared to the normotensive group, staining for pPERK was increased in decidual tissue and villi, and for IRE1, the overall percentage of stained villi per field of view was increased. There were no differences in UPR expression comparing CS to controls. Of the apoptotic markers, only IκBα (Ser32/36), which is part of an inhibitory pathway, showed a significant decrease in the PE and CS groups compared to controls. These findings suggest UPR regulation is more evident in PE with a general increase in ER stress due to decreased inhibition of apoptosis as compared to CS for which UPR was not altered.
    Keywords:  Cell death; Nicotine; PERK; Pre-eclampsia; Protein folding; UPR
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2021.09.001
  3. FEBS J. 2021 Sep 07.
    Glycan Quality Control in and out of the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Mammalian Cells.
    Yoichiro Harada, Yuki Ohkawa, Kento Maeda, Naoyuki Taniguchi.
      The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is equipped with multiple quality control systems that are necessary for shaping the glycoproteome of eukaryotic cells. These systems facilitate the productive folding of glycoproteins, eliminate defective products, and function as effectors to evoke cellular signaling in response to various cellular stresses. These ER functions largely depend on glycans, which contain sugar-based codes that, when needed, function to recruit carbohydrate-binding proteins that determine the fate of glycoproteins. To ensure their functionality, the biosynthesis of such glycans is therefore strictly monitored by a system that selectively degrades structurally defective glycans before adding them to proteins. This system, which is referred to as the glycan quality control system (QCS), serves as a mechanism to reduce the risk of abnormal glycosylation under conditions where glycan biosynthesis is genetically or metabolically stalled. On the other hand, glycan QCS increases the risk of global hypoglycosylation by limiting glycan availability, which can lead to protein misfolding and the activation of unfolded protein response to maintaining cell viability or to initiate cell death programs. This review summarizes the current state of our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying glycan QCS in mammals and its physiological and pathological roles in embryogenesis, tumor progression and congenital disorders associated with abnormal glycosylation.
    Keywords:  Asparagine-linked glycosylation; carbohydrate metabolism; congenital disorders of glycosylation; dolichol-linked oligosaccharides; glycoproteins; nucleotide sugars; quality control
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.16185
  4. Nature. 2021 09;597(7875): 196-205
    A roadmap for the Human Developmental Cell Atlas.
    Human Cell Atlas Developmental Biological Network
      The Human Developmental Cell Atlas (HDCA) initiative, which is part of the Human Cell Atlas, aims to create a comprehensive reference map of cells during development. This will be critical to understanding normal organogenesis, the effect of mutations, environmental factors and infectious agents on human development, congenital and childhood disorders, and the cellular basis of ageing, cancer and regenerative medicine. Here we outline the HDCA initiative and the challenges of mapping and modelling human development using state-of-the-art technologies to create a reference atlas across gestation. Similar to the Human Genome Project, the HDCA will integrate the output from a growing community of scientists who are mapping human development into a unified atlas. We describe the early milestones that have been achieved and the use of human stem-cell-derived cultures, organoids and animal models to inform the HDCA, especially for prenatal tissues that are hard to acquire. Finally, we provide a roadmap towards a complete atlas of human development.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03620-1
  5. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 02. pii: 9537. [Epub ahead of print]22(17):
    Oligomeric and Fibrillar Species of Aβ42 Diversely Affect Human Neural Stem Cells.
    Adela Bernabeu-Zornoza, Raquel Coronel, Charlotte Palmer, Victoria López-Alonso, Isabel Liste.
      Amyloid-β 42 peptide (Aβ1-42 (Aβ42)) is well-known for its involvement in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aβ42 accumulates and aggregates in fibers that precipitate in the form of plaques in the brain causing toxicity; however, like other forms of Aβ peptide, the role of these peptides remains unclear. Here we analyze and compare the effects of oligomeric and fibrillary Aβ42 peptide on the biology (cell death, proliferative rate, and cell fate specification) of differentiating human neural stem cells (hNS1 cell line). By using the hNS1 cells we found that, at high concentrations, oligomeric and fibrillary Aβ42 peptides provoke apoptotic cellular death and damage of DNA in these cells, but Aβ42 fibrils have the strongest effect. The data also show that both oligomeric and fibrillar Aβ42 peptides decrease cellular proliferation but Aβ42 oligomers have the greatest effect. Finally, both, oligomers and fibrils favor gliogenesis and neurogenesis in hNS1 cells, although, in this case, the effect is more prominent in oligomers. All together the findings of this study may contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathology of AD and to the development of human neural stem cell-based therapies for AD treatment.
    Keywords:  Alzheimer’s; Aβ peptide; Aβ42; cell death; cell differentiation; fibrils; human NSCs; oligomers
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179537
  6. Exp Ther Med. 2021 Oct;22(4): 1164
    Autophagy positively regulates Wnt signaling in mice with diabetic retinopathy.
    Sihao Ye, Yuhan Zhang, Xin Wang, Xu Liang, Mingyan Wei, Rongrong Zong, Zuguo Liu, Qian Chen.
      Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication of diabetes. Aberrant Wnt signaling activation plays a pathological role in DR. However, the underlying mechanisms of aberrant Wnt signaling in DR remain unknown. Autophagy has been reported to be involved in the pathophysiology of DR. The present study aimed therefore to investigate the regulatory effects of autophagy on Wnt signaling in DR. Wnt signaling was activated in the retina of db/db mice combined with an increase in the expression of the autophagic proteins microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 and beclin-1 and a decrease in the expression of the autophagic protein P62. Inhibition of autophagy by 3-methyladenin decreased Wnt signaling in diabetic retinas, indicating a potential association between Wnt signaling and autophagy. Rapamycin, an autophagy inducer, upregulated Wnt signaling in the retina of normal C57BL/6J mice. In cultured Müller cells, rapamycin induced autophagy and activated Wnt signaling, while chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, inhibited autophagy and downregulated Wnt signaling, suggesting that autophagy could regulate Wnt signaling in mice retina and retinal cells. In summary, this study demonstrated that autophagy may positively regulate Wnt signaling in diabetic retinas, indicating a potential mechanism of Wnt signaling upregulation in DR and a possible novel therapeutic target of DR.
    Keywords:  3-methyladenin; Wnt signaling; autophagy; chloroquine; diabetic retinopathy; rapamycin; rat Müller cell
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2021.10598
  7. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 ;9 683459
    The Ageing Brain: Molecular and Cellular Basis of Neurodegeneration.
    Shofiul Azam, Md Ezazul Haque, Rengasamy Balakrishnan, In-Su Kim, Dong-Kug Choi.
      Ageing is an inevitable event in the lifecycle of all organisms, characterized by progressive physiological deterioration and increased vulnerability to death. Ageing has also been described as the primary risk factor of most neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD), and frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTD). These neurodegenerative diseases occur more prevalently in the aged populations. Few effective treatments have been identified to treat these epidemic neurological crises. Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with enormous socioeconomic and personal costs. Here, the pathogenesis of AD, PD, and other neurodegenerative diseases has been presented, including a summary of their known associations with the biological hallmarks of ageing: genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, deregulated nutrient sensing, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communications. Understanding the central biological mechanisms that underlie ageing is important for identifying novel therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases. Potential therapeutic strategies, including the use of NAD+ precursors, mitophagy inducers, and inhibitors of cellular senescence, has also been discussed.
    Keywords:  NAD+; aggregation; inflammation; mitophagy; neurodegenerative diseases
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.683459
  8. Front Mol Biosci. 2021 ;8 718301
    SGnn: A Web Server for the Prediction of Prion-Like Domains Recruitment to Stress Granules Upon Heat Stress.
    Valentín Iglesias, Jaime Santos, Juan Santos-Suárez, Carlos Pintado-Grima, Salvador Ventura.
      Proteins bearing prion-like domains (PrLDs) are essential players in stress granules (SG) assembly. Analysis of data on heat stress-induced recruitment of yeast PrLDs to SG suggests that this propensity might be connected with three defined protein biophysical features: aggregation propensity, net charge, and the presence of free cysteines. These three properties can be read directly in the PrLDs sequences, and their combination allows to predict protein recruitment to SG under heat stress. On this basis, we implemented SGnn, an online predictor of SG recruitment that exploits a feed-forward neural network for high accuracy classification of the assembly behavior of PrLDs. The simplicity and precision of our strategy should allow its implementation to identify heat stress-induced SG-forming proteins in complete proteomes.
    Keywords:  bioinformatics; machine learning; prion-like domains; protein aggregation; stress granules; yeast prions
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2021.718301
  9. Stem Cells Dev. 2021 Sep 05.
    Metformin Rescues the Impaired Osteogenesis Differentiation Ability of Rat Adipose-derived Stem Cells in High Glucose by Activating Autophagy.
    Maorui Zhang, Bo Yang, Shuanglin Peng, Jingang Xiao.
      The incidence and morbidity of diabetes osteoporosis (DOP) are increasing with each passing year. Patients with DOP have a higher risk of bone fracture and poor healing of bone defects, which make a poor quality of their life. Bone tissue engineering based on autologous adipose-derived stem cells(ASCs) transplantation develops as an effective technique to achieve tissue regeneration for patients with bone defects. With the purpose of promoting auto-ASCs transplantation, this research project explored the effect of metformin on the osteogenic differentiation of ASCs under a high glucose culture environment. Here, we found that 40mM/L high glucose inhibited the physiological function of ASCs including cell proliferation, migration, and osteogenic differentiation. Indicators of osteogenic differentiation were all down-regulated by 40mM/L high glucose, including alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity, runt-related transcription factor 2(RUNX2), and osteopontin(OPN) gene expression and Wnt signaling pathway. At the same time, the cell autophagy makers BECLIN1 and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3 I/II) were decreased. While 0.1mM/L metformin upregulated the expression of BECLIN1 and LC3 I/II gene and inhibited the expression of mTOR and GSK3β, contribute to reverse the osteogenesis inhibition of ASCs caused by high glucose. While 3-MA was used to block the activity of metformin, metformin couldn't exert its protective effect on ASCs. All the findings elaborated the regulatory mechanism of metformin in the high glucose microenvironment to protect the osteogenic differentiation ability of ASCs. Metformin plays an active role in promoting the osteogenic differentiation of ASCs with DOP, and it may contribute to the application of ASCs transplantation for bone regeneration in DOP.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1089/scd.2021.0181
  10. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 05. 1-3
    The OMM-severed and IMM-ubiquitinated mitochondria are intermediates of mitochondrial proteotoxicity-induced autophagy in PRKN/parkin-deficient cells.
    Yumiko Oshima, Nicolas Verhoeven, Etienne Cartier, Mariusz Karbowski.
      Among other mechanisms, mitochondrial membrane dynamics including mitochondrial fission and fusion, and the activity of the ubiquitin (Ub)-proteasome system (UPS) both are critical for maintaining mitochondrial function. To advance our knowledge of the role of mitochondrial fission, the UPS, and how they coordinatively affect mitochondrial response to proteotoxicity, we analyzed mitochondrial ubiquitination and mitochondria-specific autophagy (mitophagy) in E3 Ub ligase PRKN/parkin-expressing and -deficient cells. Through imaging, biochemical, and genetic analyses, we found that in a model of acute reduction of mitochondrial translation fidelity (MTF) some population of mitochondria within a single cell are enriched, while some showed reduced levels of CYCS (cytochrome c, somatic) and CPOX (coproporphyrinogen oxidase) proteins, both located in the intermembrane space (IMS); henceforth called "mosaic distribution". Formation of mosaic mitochondria requires mitochondrial fission and active mitochondrial translation. In cell lines deficient in PRKN activity, this process is followed by severing the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) and ubiquitination of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) proteins (including TRAP1 and CPOX), recruitment of autophagy receptors, and formation of mito-autophagosomes. In contrast, in PRKN-expressing cells, mitochondria with high CYCS and CPOX levels are preferentially targeted by PRKN, leading to OMM ubiquitination and canonical PRKN-PINK1-mediated autophagy.
    Keywords:  DRP1; Parkin; mitochondria; mitochondrial translation; mitophagy; ubiquitin
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1964887
  11. Autophagy. 2021 Sep 07. 1-3
    Pep4-dependent microautophagy is required for post-ER degradation of GPI-anchored proteins.
    Leticia Lemus, Veit Goder.
      Clearance of misfolded proteins from the secretory pathway often occurs soon after their biosynthesis by endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated protein degradation (ERAD). However, certain types of misfolded proteins are not ERAD substrates and exit the ER. They are then scrutinized by ill-defined post-ER quality control (post-ERQC) mechanisms and are frequently routed to the vacuole/lysosome for degradation. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GPI-APs) constitute a class of proteins of the secretory pathway that mostly depends on post-ERQC. How misfolded GPI-APs are detected, transported to the vacuole/lysosome and taken up by this organelle was poorly defined. Originating from the intriguing observation that several misfolded GPI-APs accumulate in the yeast vacuolar membrane in the absence of the major vacuolar protease Pep4, we designed an unbiased genome-wide screen in yeast and followed the trafficking of the misfolded fluorescent GPI-AP Gas1* from the ER to the vacuolar lumen. Our results reveal that post-ERQC of GPI-APs is linked with a novel type of microautophagy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2021.1971929
  12. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Aug 26. pii: 9239. [Epub ahead of print]22(17):
    Joint Degeneration in a Mouse Model of Pseudoachondroplasia: ER Stress, Inflammation, and Block of Autophagy.
    Jacqueline T Hecht, Alka C Veerisetty, Mohammad G Hossain, Debabrata Patra, Frankie Chiu, Francoise Coustry, Karen L Posey.
      Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH), a short limb skeletal dysplasia associated with premature joint degeneration, is caused by misfolding mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). Here, we define mutant-COMP-induced stress mechanisms that occur in articular chondrocytes of MT-COMP mice, a murine model of PSACH. The accumulation of mutant-COMP in the ER occurred early in MT-COMP articular chondrocytes and stimulated inflammation (TNFα) at 4 weeks, and articular chondrocyte death increased at 8 weeks while ER stress through CHOP was elevated by 12 weeks. Importantly, blockage of autophagy (pS6), the major mechanism that clears the ER, sustained cellular stress in MT-COMP articular chondrocytes. Degeneration of MT-COMP articular cartilage was similar to that observed in PSACH and was associated with increased MMPs, a family of degradative enzymes. Moreover, chronic cellular stresses stimulated senescence. Senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) may play a role in generating and propagating a pro-degradative environment in the MT-COMP murine joint. The loss of CHOP or resveratrol treatment from birth preserved joint health in MT-COMP mice. Taken together, these results indicate that ER stress/CHOP signaling and autophagy blockage are central to mutant-COMP joint degeneration, and MT-COMP mice joint health can be preserved by decreasing articular chondrocyte stress. Future joint sparing therapeutics for PSACH may include resveratrol.
    Keywords:  ER stress; articular cartilage; autophagy; cartilage oligomeric matrix protein; chondrocyte; dwarfism; joint degeneration; pseudoachondroplasia
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179239
  13. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 06. pii: 9633. [Epub ahead of print]22(17):
    Impact of Amyloid-β on Platelet Mitochondrial Function and Platelet-Mediated Amyloid Aggregation in Alzheimer's Disease.
    Lili Donner, Tobias Feige, Carolin Freiburg, Laura Mara Toska, Andreas S Reichert, Madhumita Chatterjee, Margitta Elvers.
       BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by an accumulation of amyloid β (Aβ) peptides in the brain and mitochondrial dysfunction. Platelet activation is enhanced in AD and platelets contribute to AD pathology by their ability to facilitate soluble Aβ to form Aβ aggregates. Thus, anti-platelet therapy reduces the formation of cerebral amyloid angiopathy in AD transgenic mice. Platelet mitochondrial dysfunction plays a regulatory role in thrombotic response, but its significance in AD is unknown and explored herein.
    METHODS: The effects of Aβ-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction in platelets were investigated in vitro.
    RESULTS: Aβ40 stimulation of human platelets led to elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and superoxide production, while reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and oxygen consumption rate. Enhanced mitochondrial dysfunction triggered platelet-mediated Aβ40 aggregate formation through GPVI-mediated ROS production, leading to enhanced integrin αIIbβ3 activation during synergistic stimulation from ADP and Aβ40. Aβ40 aggregate formation of human and murine (APP23) platelets were comparable to controls and could be reduced by the antioxidant vitamin C.
    CONCLUSIONS: Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to platelet-mediated Aβ aggregate formation and might be a promising target to limit platelet activation exaggerated pathological manifestations in AD.
    Keywords:  Alzheimer’s disease; Aβ aggregation; GPVI; ROS; cerebral amyloid angiopathy; integrin; mitochondria dysfunction; platelets
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22179633
  14. J Therm Biol. 2021 Aug;pii: S0306-4565(21)00204-7. [Epub ahead of print]100 103036
    The heat shock response shows plasticity in embryonic lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) exposed to repeated thermal stress.
    Katherine J Sessions, Lindy M Whitehouse, Lori A Manzon, Douglas R Boreham, Christopher M Somers, Joanna Y Wilson, Richard G Manzon.
      We examined the impact of repeated thermal stress on the heat shock response (HSR) of thermally sensitive lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) embryos. Our treatments were designed to mimic temperature fluctuations in the vicinity of industrial thermal effluents. Embryos were either maintained at control temperatures (3 oC) or exposed to a repeated thermal stress (TS) of 3 or 6 oC above control temperature every 3 or 6 days throughout embryonic development. At 82 days post-fertilisation, repeated TS treatments were stopped and embryos received either a high level TS of 12, 15, or 18 oC above ambient temperature for 1 or 4 h, or no additional TS. These treatments were carried out after a 6 h recovery from the last repeated TS. Embryos in the no repeated TS group responded, as expected, with increases in hsp70 mRNA in response to 12, 15 and 18 oC high-level TS. However, exposure to repeated TS of 3 or 6 ⁰C every 6 days also resulted in a significant upregulation of hsp70 mRNA relative to the controls. Importantly, these repeated TS events and the associated elevations in hsp70 attenuated the upregulation of hsp70 in response to a 1 h, high-level TS of 12 oC above ambient, but not to either longer (4 h) or higher (15 or 18 oC) TS events. Conversely, hsp90α mRNA levels were not consistently elevated in the no repeated TS groups exposed to high-level TS. In some instances, hsp90α levels appeared to decrease in embryos exposed to repeated TS followed by a high-level TS. The observed attenuation of the HSR in lake whitefish embryos demonstrates that embryos of this species have plasticity in their HSR and repeated TS may protect against high-level TS, but the response differs based on repeated TS treatment, high-level TS temperature and duration, and the gene of interest.
    Keywords:  Embryos; Heat shock proteins; Lake whitefish; Plasticity; Repeated thermal stress
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103036
  15. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2021 Sep 10.
    Autophagy in metabolic disease and ageing.
    Munehiro Kitada, Daisuke Koya.
      Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved, lysosome-dependent catabolic process whereby cytoplasmic components, including damaged organelles, protein aggregates and lipid droplets, are degraded and their components recycled. Autophagy has an essential role in maintaining cellular homeostasis in response to intracellular stress; however, the efficiency of autophagy declines with age and overnutrition can interfere with the autophagic process. Therefore, conditions such as sarcopenic obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that are characterized by metabolic derangement and intracellular stresses (including oxidative stress, inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum stress) also involve the accumulation of damaged cellular components. These conditions are prevalent in ageing populations. For example, sarcopenia is an age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength that is involved in the pathogenesis of both insulin resistance and T2DM, particularly in elderly people. Impairment of autophagy results in further aggravation of diabetes-related metabolic derangements in insulin target tissues, including the liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, as well as in pancreatic β-cells. This Review summarizes the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases associated with or occurring in the context of ageing, including insulin resistance, T2DM and sarcopenic obesity, and describes its potential as a therapeutic target.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-021-00551-9
  16. Sleep Med Rev. 2021 Aug 16. pii: S1087-0792(21)00126-X. [Epub ahead of print]60 101541
    Tau-driven degeneration of sleep- and wake-regulating neurons in Alzheimer's disease.
    Caroline H Lew, Cathrine Petersen, Thomas C Neylan, Lea T Grinberg.
      Disturbances of the sleep/wake cycle in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are common, frequently precede cognitive decline, and tend to worsen with disease progression. Sleep is critical to the maintenance of homeostatic and circadian function, and chronic sleep disturbances have significant cognitive and physical health consequences that likely exacerbate disease severity. Sleep-wake cycles are regulated by neuromodulatory centers located in the brainstem, the hypothalamus, and the basal forebrain, many of which are vulnerable to the accumulation of abnormal protein deposits associated with neurodegenerative conditions. In AD, while sleep disturbances are commonly attributed to the accumulation of amyloid beta, patients often first experience sleep issues prior to the appearance of amyloid beta plaques, on a timeline that more closely corresponds to the first appearance of abnormal tau neurofibrillary tangles in sleep/wake regulating areas of the brainstem. Sleep disturbances also occur in pure tauopathies, providing further support that tau is a major contributor. Here, we provide an overview of the neuroanatomy of sleep/wake centers discovered in animal models, and review the evidence that tau-driven neuropathology is a primary driver of sleep disturbance in AD.
    Keywords:  Alzheimer's disease; Human; Neuropathology; Progressive supranuclear palsy; Sleep-promoting; Tauopathies; Wake-promoting
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101541
  17. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 06. 11(1): 17733
    Mitochondria-affecting small molecules ameliorate proteostasis defects associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
    Elissa Tjahjono, Jingqi Pei, Alexey V Revtovich, Terri-Jeanne E Liu, Alisha Swadi, Maria C Hancu, Joe G Tolar, Natalia V Kirienko.
      Macroautophagic recycling of dysfunctional mitochondria, known as mitophagy, is essential for mitochondrial homeostasis and cell viability. Accumulation of defective mitochondria and impaired mitophagy have been widely implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases, and loss-of-function mutations of PINK1 and Parkin, two key regulators of mitophagy, are amongst the most common causes of heritable parkinsonism. This has led to the hypothesis that pharmacological stimulation of mitophagy may be a feasible approach to combat neurodegeneration. Toward this end, we screened ~ 45,000 small molecules using a high-throughput, whole-organism, phenotypic screen that monitored accumulation of PINK-1 protein, a key event in mitophagic activation, in a Caenorhabditis elegans strain carrying a Ppink-1::PINK-1::GFP reporter. We obtained eight hits that increased mitochondrial fragmentation and autophagosome formation. Several of the compounds also reduced ATP production, oxygen consumption, mitochondrial mass, and/or mitochondrial membrane potential. Importantly, we found that treatment with two compounds, which we named PS83 and PS106 (more commonly known as sertraline) reduced neurodegenerative disease phenotypes, including delaying paralysis in a C. elegans β-amyloid aggregation model in a PINK-1-dependent manner. This report presents a promising step toward the identification of compounds that will stimulate mitochondrial turnover.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97148-z
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