scholarly journals The stem cell transcription factor SOX2 is essential for astrocyte maturation and controls animal hyperactive behavior

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng Zhang ◽  
Zhaohui Lan ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Bokyung Kim ◽  
Fuzheng Guo

Abstract Children with SOX2-deficiency develop anophthalmia/microphthalmia and display neurological impairment. Here we report an essential role for astroglial SOX2 in brain anomalies and neurological defects. Sox2-deficiency inhibited postnatal astrocyte maturation without affecting astroglial proliferation and population expansion. Mechanistically, we found that SOX2 directly bound to a cohort of astrocytic signature genes such as those involving in glutamate transport and that Sox2-deficiency remarkably reduced glutamate transporter expression and compromised astrocyte function of glutamate uptake. Behaviorally, astroglial Sox2-deficient mice developed hyperactivity in locomotion while their motor skills, social capability, and learning abilities were unaffected. We found that astroglial Sox2-deficiency results in elevated glutamatergic synapse formation and elevated excitability of striatal medium spiny neurons, which has been shown to trigger hyperactive locomotion. Our study provides new insights into the biological mechanisms underlying brain defects in children with SOX2 mutations and unveils a novel connection between astrocyte SOX2 and brain development and behavior.

2011 ◽  
Vol 300 (6) ◽  
pp. F1353-F1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Yang ◽  
K. Roman ◽  
D.-F. Chen ◽  
Z.-G. Wang ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
...  

Glutamatergic pathways mediate transmission of pain. Strategies to reduce glutamatergic neurotransmission may have beneficial effects to mitigate nociception. Recent work revealed that overexpression of the astrocytic glutamate transporter (GLT-1) by transgenic or pharmacologic approaches produced a diminished visceral nociceptive response to colonic distension. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of GLT-1 overexpression on the visceromotor response to bladder distension. Increased glutamate uptake activity produced by 1-wk ceftriaxone (CTX) treatment attenuated 60–64% the visceromotor response to graded bladder distension compared with vehicle-treated mice. One-hour pretreatment with selective GLT-1 antagonist dihydrokainate reversed the blunted visceromotor response to bladder distension produced by 1-wk CTX, suggesting that GLT-1 overexpression mediated the analgesic effect of CTX. Moreover, sensitization of the visceromotor response to bladder distension produced by local bladder irritation (acrolein) was also attenuated by 1-wk CTX treatment. A model of cross-organ sensitization of bladder visceromotor response to distension was next studied to determine whether increased expression of GLT-1 can mitigate colon to bladder sensitization. Intracolonic trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) administered 1 h before eliciting the visceromotor response to graded bladder distension produced a 75–138% increase in visceromotor response compared with animals receiving intracolonic vehicle. In marked contrast, animals treated with 1-wk CTX + intracolonic TNBS showed no enhanced visceromotor response compared with the 1-wk vehicle + intracolonic vehicle group. The study suggests that GLT-1 overexpression attenuates the visceromotor response to bladder distension and both local irritant-induced and cross-organ-sensitized visceromotor response to bladder distension.


2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1327-1338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Romera ◽  
Olivia Hurtado ◽  
Judith Mallolas ◽  
Marta P Pereira ◽  
Jesús R Morales ◽  
...  

Excessive levels of extracellular glutamate in the nervous system are excitotoxic and lead to neuronal death. Glutamate transport, mainly by glutamate transporter GLT1/EAAT2, is the only mechanism for maintaining extracellular glutamate concentrations below excitotoxic levels in the central nervous system. We recently showed that neuroprotection after experimental ischemic preconditioning (IPC) involves, at least partly, the upregulation of the GLT1/EAAT2 glutamate transporter in astrocytes, but the mechanisms were unknown. Thus, we decided to explore whether activation of the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ, known for its antidiabetic and antiinflammatory properties, is involved in glutamate transport. First, we found that the PPARγ antagonist T0070907 inhibits both IPC-induced tolerance and reduction of glutamate release after lethal oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) (70.1% ± 3.4% versus 97.7% ± 5.2% of OGD-induced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and 61.8% ± 5.9% versus 85.9% ± 7.9% of OGD-induced glutamate release in IPC and IPC + T0070907 1 μmol/L, respectively, n = 6 to 12, P < 0.05), as well as IPC-induced astrocytic GLT-1 overexpression. IPC also caused an increase in nuclear PPARγ transcriptional activity in neurons and astrocytes (122.1% ± 8.1% and 158.6% ± 22.6% of control PPARγ transcriptional activity, n = 6, P < 0.05). Second, the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone increased both GLT-1/EAAT2 mRNA and protein expression and [3H]glutamate uptake, and reduced OGD-induced cell death and glutamate release (76.3% ± 7.9% and 65.5% ± 15.1% of OGD-induced LDH and glutamate release in rosiglitazone 1 μmol/l, respectively, n = 6 to 12, P < 0.05). Finally, we have identified six putative PPAR response elements (PPREs) in the GLT1/EAAT2 promoter and, consistently, rosiglitazone increased fourfold GLT1/EAAT2 promoter activity. All these data show that the GLT1/EAAT2 glutamate transporter is a target gene of PPARγ leading to neuroprotection by increasing glutamate uptake.


2001 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 836-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Mort ◽  
Païkan Marcaggi ◽  
James Grant ◽  
David Attwell

A rise of brain ammonia level, as occurs in liver failure, initially increases glutamate accumulation in neurons and glial cells. We investigated the effect of acute exposure to ammonia on glutamate transporter currents in whole cell clamped glial cells from the salamander retina. Ammonia potentiated the current evoked by a saturating concentration ofl-glutamate, and decreased the apparent affinity of the transporter for glutamate. The potentiation had a Michaelis-Menten dependence on ammonia concentration, with a K m of 1.4 mM and a maximum potentiation of 31%. Ammonia also potentiated the transporter current produced by d-aspartate. Potentiation of the glutamate transport current was seen even with glutamine synthetase inhibited, so ammonia does not act by speeding glutamine synthesis, contrary to a suggestion in the literature. The potentiation was unchanged in the absence of Cl− ions, showing that it is not an effect on the anion current gated by the glutamate transporter. Ammonium ions were unable to substitute for Na+in driving glutamate transport. Although they can partially substitute for K+ at the cation counter-transport site of the transporter, their occupancy of these sites would produce a potentiation of <1%. Ammonium, and the weak bases methylamine and trimethylamine, increased the intracellular pH by similar amounts, and intracellular alkalinization is known to increase glutamate uptake. Methylamine and trimethylamine potentiated the uptake current by the amount expected from the known pH dependence of uptake, but ammonia gave a potentiation that was larger than could be explained by the pH change, and some potentiation of uptake by ammonia was still seen when the internal pH was 8.8, at which pH further alkalinization does not increase uptake. These data suggest that ammonia speeds glutamate uptake both by increasing cytoplasmic pH and by a separate effect on the glutamate transporter. Approximately two-thirds of the speeding is due to the pH change.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. e69250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Russo ◽  
Federica Cavaliere ◽  
Giuseppe Pasquale Varano ◽  
Marco Milanese ◽  
Annagrazia Adornetto ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 3578-3587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Colicchio ◽  
Susanna Ricci ◽  
Florentia Lamberti ◽  
Caterina Pagliarulo ◽  
Chiara Pagliuca ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Experimental animal models of bacterial meningitis are useful to study the host-pathogen interactions occurring at the cerebral level and to analyze the pathogenetic mechanisms behind this life-threatening disease. In this study, we have developed a mouse model of meningococcal meningitis based on the intracisternal inoculation of bacteria. Experiments were performed with mouse-passaged serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis. Survival and clinical parameters of infected mice and microbiological and histological analysis of the brain demonstrated the establishment of meningitis with features comparable to those of the disease in humans. When using low bacterial inocula, meningococcal replication in the brain was very efficient, with a 1,000-fold increase of viable counts in 18 h. Meningococci were also found in the blood, spleens, and livers of infected mice, and bacterial loads in different organs were dependent on the infectious dose. As glutamate uptake from the host has been implicated in meningococcal virulence, mice were infected intracisternally with an isogenic strain deficient in the ABC-type l-glutamate transporter GltT. Noticeably, the mutant was attenuated in virulence in mixed infections, indicating that wild-type bacteria outcompeted the GltT-deficient meningococci. The data show that the GltT transporter plays a role in meningitis and concomitant systemic infection, suggesting that meningococci may use l-glutamate as a nutrient source and as a precursor to synthesize the antioxidant glutathione.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. eaaz1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Romanos ◽  
Dietmar Benke ◽  
Daniela Pietrobon ◽  
Hanns Ulrich Zeilhofer ◽  
Mirko Santello

Astrocytes are essential contributors to neuronal function. As a consequence, disturbed astrocyte-neuron interactions are involved in the pathophysiology of several neurological disorders, with a strong impact on brain circuits and behavior. Here, we describe altered cortical physiology in a genetic mouse model of familial hemiplegic migraine type 2 (FHM2), with reduced expression of astrocytic Na+,K+-ATPases. We used whole-cell electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy, and astrocyte gene rescue to demonstrate that an impairment in astrocytic glutamate uptake promotes NMDA spike generation in dendrites of cingulate cortex pyramidal neurons and enhances output firing of these neurons. Astrocyte compensation of the defective ATPase in the cingulate cortex rescued glutamate uptake, prevented abnormal NMDA spikes, and reduced sensitivity to cranial pain triggers. Together, our results demonstrate that impaired astrocyte function alters neuronal activity in the cingulate cortex and facilitates migraine-like cranial pain states in a mouse model of migraine.


2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina R. Boeck ◽  
Eduardo H. Kroth ◽  
Mauro J. Bronzatto ◽  
Fluvia M. Jardim ◽  
Diogo O. Souza ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document