scholarly journals SOD1 aggregation in ALS mice shows simplistic test tube behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (32) ◽  
pp. 9878-9883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Lang ◽  
Per Zetterström ◽  
Thomas Brännström ◽  
Stefan L. Marklund ◽  
Jens Danielsson ◽  
...  

A longstanding challenge in studies of neurodegenerative disease has been that the pathologic protein aggregates in live tissue are not amenable to structural and kinetic analysis by conventional methods. The situation is put in focus by the current progress in demarcating protein aggregation in vitro, exposing new mechanistic details that are now calling for quantitative in vivo comparison. In this study, we bridge this gap by presenting a direct comparison of the aggregation kinetics of the ALS-associated protein superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in vitro and in transgenic mice. The results based on tissue sampling by quantitative antibody assays show that the SOD1 fibrillation kinetics in vitro mirror with remarkable accuracy the spinal cord aggregate buildup and disease progression in transgenic mice. This similarity between in vitro and in vivo data suggests that, despite the complexity of live tissue, SOD1 aggregation follows robust and simplistic rules, providing new mechanistic insights into the ALS pathology and organism-level manifestation of protein aggregation phenomena in general.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Schreck ◽  
John Bridstrup ◽  
Jian-Min Yuan

The thermodynamics and kinetics of protein folding and protein aggregation in vivo are of great importance in numerous scientific areas including fundamental biophysics research, nanotechnology, and medicine. However, these processes remain poorly understood in both in vivo and in vitro systems. Here we extend an established model for protein aggregation that is based on the kinetic equations for the moments of the polymer size distribution by introducing macromolecular crowding particles into the model using scaled-particle and transition-state theories. The model predicts that the presence of crowders can either speed up, cause no change to, or slow down the progress of the aggregation compared to crowder-free solutions, in striking agreement with experimental results from nine different amyloid-forming proteins that utilized dextran as the crowder. These different dynamic effects of macromolecular crowding can be understood in terms of the change of excluded volume associated with each reaction step.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (14) ◽  
pp. 4489-4494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Bergh ◽  
Per Zetterström ◽  
Peter M. Andersen ◽  
Thomas Brännström ◽  
Karin S. Graffmo ◽  
...  

Despite considerable progress in uncovering the molecular details of protein aggregation in vitro, the cause and mechanism of protein-aggregation disease remain poorly understood. One reason is that the amount of pathological aggregates in neural tissue is exceedingly low, precluding examination by conventional approaches. We present here a method for determination of the structure and quantity of aggregates in small tissue samples, circumventing the above problem. The method is based on binary epitope mapping using anti-peptide antibodies. We assessed the usefulness and versatility of the method in mice modeling the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which accumulate intracellular aggregates of superoxide dismutase-1. Two strains of aggregates were identified with different structural architectures, molecular properties, and growth kinetics. Both were different from superoxide dismutase-1 aggregates generated in vitro under a variety of conditions. The strains, which seem kinetically under fragmentation control, are associated with different disease progressions, complying with and adding detail to the growing evidence that seeding, infectivity, and strain dependence are unifying principles of neurodegenerative disease.


Author(s):  
Beverly E. Maleeff ◽  
Timothy K. Hart ◽  
Stephen J. Wood ◽  
Ronald Wetzel

Alzheimer's disease is characterized post-mortem in part by abnormal extracellular neuritic plaques found in brain tissue. There appears to be a correlation between the severity of Alzheimer's dementia in vivo and the number of plaques found in particular areas of the brain. These plaques are known to be the deposition sites of fibrils of the protein β-amyloid. It is thought that if the assembly of these plaques could be inhibited, the severity of the disease would be decreased. The peptide fragment Aβ, a precursor of the p-amyloid protein, has a 40 amino acid sequence, and has been shown to be toxic to neuronal cells in culture after an aging process of several days. This toxicity corresponds to the kinetics of in vitro amyloid fibril formation. In this study, we report the biochemical and ultrastructural effects of pH and the inhibitory agent hexadecyl-N-methylpiperidinium (HMP) bromide, one of a class of ionic micellar detergents known to be capable of solubilizing hydrophobic peptides, on the in vitro assembly of the peptide fragment Aβ.


1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schümichen ◽  
B. Mackenbrock ◽  
G. Hoffmann

SummaryThe bone-seeking 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound (compound A) was diluted both in vitro and in vivo and proved to be unstable both in vitro and in vivo. However, stability was much better in vivo than in vitro and thus the in vitro stability of compound A after dilution in various mediums could be followed up by a consecutive evaluation of the in vivo distribution in the rat. After dilution in neutral normal saline compound A is metastable and after a short half-life it is transformed into the other 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound A is metastable and after a short half-life in bone but in the kidneys. After dilution in normal saline of low pH and in buffering solutions the stability of compound A is increased. In human plasma compound A is relatively stable but not in plasma water. When compound B is formed in a buffering solution, uptake in the kidneys and excretion in urine is lowered and blood concentration increased.It is assumed that the association of protons to compound A will increase its stability at low concentrations while that to compound B will lead to a strong protein bond in plasma. It is concluded that compound A will not be stable in vivo because of a lack of stability in the extravascular space, and that the protein bond in plasma will be a measure of its in vivo stability.


1981 ◽  
Vol 45 (03) ◽  
pp. 285-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Allain ◽  
A Gaillandre ◽  
D Frommel

SummaryFactor VIII complex and its interaction with antibodies to factor VIII have been studied in 17 non-haemophilic patients with factor VIII inhibitor. Low VIII:C and high VIIIR.Ag levels were found in all patients. VIII:WF levels were 50% of those of VTIIRrAg, possibly related to an increase of poorly aggregated and electrophoretically fast moving VIIIR:Ag oligomers.Antibody function has been characterized by kinetics of VIII :C inactivation, saturability by normal plasma and the slope of the affinity curve. Two major patterns were observed:1) Antibodies from 6 patients behaved similarly to those from haemophiliacs by showing second order inhibition kinetics, easy saturability and steep affinity slope (> 1).2) Antibodies from other patients, usually with lower titres, inactivated VIII :C according to complex order kinetics, were not saturable, and had a less steep affinity slope (< 0.7). In native plasma, or after mixing with factor VIII concentrate, antibodies of the second group did not form immune complexes with the whole factor VIII molecular complex. However, dissociation procedures did release some antibodies from apparently low molecular weight complexes formed in vivo or in vitro. For appropriate management of non-haemophilic patients with factor VIII inhibitor, it is important to determine the functional properties of their antibodies to factor VIII.


1992 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
H. Berger ◽  
K. Fechner ◽  
N. Heinrich ◽  
D. Lorenz ◽  
E. Albrecht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3700
Author(s):  
Junna Hayashi ◽  
Jennifer Ton ◽  
Sparsh Negi ◽  
Daniel E. K. M. Stephens ◽  
Dean L. Pountney ◽  
...  

Oxidation of the neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA), is a pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Oxidized DA forms adducts with proteins which can alter their functionality. αB-crystallin and Hsp27 are intracellular, small heat-shock molecular chaperone proteins (sHsps) which form the first line of defense to prevent protein aggregation under conditions of cellular stress. In vitro, the effects of oxidized DA on the structure and function of αB-crystallin and Hsp27 were investigated. Oxidized DA promoted the cross-linking of αB-crystallin and Hsp27 to form well-defined dimer, trimer, tetramer, etc., species, as monitored by SDS-PAGE. Lysine residues were involved in the cross-links. The secondary structure of the sHsps was not altered significantly upon cross-linking with oxidized DA but their oligomeric size was increased. When modified with a molar equivalent of DA, sHsp chaperone functionality was largely retained in preventing both amorphous and amyloid fibrillar aggregation, including fibril formation of mutant (A53T) α-synuclein, a protein whose aggregation is associated with autosomal PD. In the main, higher levels of sHsp modification with DA led to a reduction in chaperone effectiveness. In vivo, DA is sequestered into acidic vesicles to prevent its oxidation and, intracellularly, oxidation is minimized by mM levels of the antioxidant, glutathione. In vitro, acidic pH and glutathione prevented the formation of oxidized DA-induced cross-linking of the sHsps. Oxidized DA-modified αB-crystallin and Hsp27 were not cytotoxic. In a cellular context, retention of significant chaperone functionality by mildly oxidized DA-modified sHsps would contribute to proteostasis by preventing protein aggregation (particularly of α-synuclein) that is associated with PD.


1932 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. Wilkes ◽  
Elizabeth T. Palmer

1. The pH-activity relationship of invertase has been studied in vivo and in vitro under identical external environmental conditions. 2. The effect of changing (H+) upon the sucroclastic activity of living cells of S. cerevisiae and of invertase solutions obtained therefrom has been found, within experimental error, to be identical. 3. The region of living yeast cells in which invertase exerts its physiological activity changes its pH freely and to the same extent as that of the suspending medium. It is suggested that this may indicate that this intracellular enzyme may perform its work somewhere in the outer region of the cell. 4. In using live cells containing maltase, no evidence of increased sucroclastic activity around pH 6.9, due to the action of Weidenhagen's α-glucosidase (maltase), was found.


2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 1582-1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna R. Hill ◽  
Marianne E. Brunner ◽  
Deborah C. Schmitz ◽  
Catherine C. Davis ◽  
Janine A. Flood ◽  
...  

Previous in vitro and in vivo animal studies showed that O2and CO2concentrations can affect virulence of pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus. The objective of this work was to measure O2and CO2levels in the vaginal environment during tampon wear using newly available sensor technology. Measurements by two vaginal sensors showed a decrease in vaginal O2levels after tampon insertion. These decreases were independent of the type of tampons used and the time of measurement (mid-cycle or during menstruation). These results are not in agreement with a previous study that concluded that oxygenation of the vaginal environment during tampon use occurred via delivery of a bolus of O2during the insertion process. Our measurements of gas levels in menses showed the presence of both O2and CO2in menses. The tampons inserted into the vagina contained O2and CO2levels consistent with atmospheric conditions. Over time during tampon use, levels of O2in the tampon decreased and levels of CO2increased. Tampon absorbent capacity, menses loading, and wear time influenced the kinetics of these changes. Colonization with S. aureus had no effect on the gas profiles during menstruation. Taken collectively, these findings have important implications on the current understanding of gaseous changes in the vaginal environment during menstruation and the potential role(s) they may play in affecting bacterial virulence factor production.


1996 ◽  
Vol 270 (3) ◽  
pp. G487-G491 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Strocchi ◽  
G. Corazza ◽  
J. Furne ◽  
C. Fine ◽  
A. Di Sario ◽  
...  

Normal intestinal absorption of nutrients requires efficient luminal mixing to deliver solute to the brush border. Lacking such mixing, the buildup of thick unstirred layers over the mucosa markedly retards absorption of rapidly transported compounds. Using a technique based on the kinetics of maltose hydrolysis, we measured the unstirred layer thickness of the jejunum of normal subjects and patients with celiac disease, as well as that of the normal rat. The jejunum of humans and rats was perfused with varying maltose concentrations, and the apparent Michaelis constant (Km) and maximal velocity (Vmax) of maltose hydrolysis were determined from double-reciprocal plots. The true Km of intestinal maltase was determined on mucosal biopsies. Unstirred layer thickness was calculated from the in vivo Vmax and apparent Km and the in vitro Km of maltase. The average unstirred layer thickness of 11 celiac patients (170 micron) was seven times greater than that of 3 controls (25 micron). The unstirred layer of each celiac exceeded that of the controls. A variety of factors could account for the less efficient luminal stirring observed in celiacs. Although speculative, villous contractility could be an important stirring mechanism that would be absent in celiacs with villous atrophy. This speculation was supported by the finding of a relatively thick unstirred layer (mean: 106 micron) in rats, an animal that lacks villous contractility. Because any increase in unstirred layer slows transport of rapidly absorbed compounds, poor stirring appears to represent a previously unrecognized defect that could contribute to malabsorption in celiac disease and, perhaps, in other intestinal disorders.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document