glutamatergic synapse
Recently Published Documents


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

135
(FIVE YEARS 47)

H-INDEX

29
(FIVE YEARS 3)

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingzhi Deng ◽  
Jingjing Li ◽  
Jian Liu ◽  
Fuyi Xu ◽  
Xiaoya Liu ◽  
...  

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is associated with cognitive dysfunction; however, the detailed underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential underlying mechanism with a system genetics approach. A transcriptome-wide association study was performed on aged (12–32 months old) BXD mice strains. The hippocampus gene expression was obtained from 56 BXD strains, and the hearing acuity was assessed from 54 BXD strains. Further correlation analysis identified a total of 1,435 hearing-related genes in the hippocampus (p < 0.05). Pathway analysis of these genes indicated that the impaired glutamatergic synapse pathway is involved in ARHL (p = 0.0038). Further gene co-expression analysis showed that the expression level of glutamine synthetase (Gls), which is significantly correlated with ARHL (n = 26, r = −0.46, p = 0.0193), is a crucial regulator in glutamatergic synapse pathway and associated with learning and memory behavior. In this study, we present the first systematic evaluation of hippocampus gene expression pattern associated with ARHL, learning, and memory behavior. Our results provide novel potential molecular mechanisms involved in ARHL and cognitive dysfunction association.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Hayashi

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate brain and various modifications have been established in the glutamatergic synapses. Generally, many neuronal receptors and ion channels are regulated by S-palmitoylation, a reversible post-translational protein modification. Genome sequence databases show the evolutionary acquisition and conservation concerning vertebrate-specific palmitoylation of synaptic proteins including glutamate receptors. Moreover, palmitoylation of some glutamate receptor-binding proteins is subsequently acquired only in some mammalian lineages. Recent progress in genome studies has revealed that some palmitoylation-catalyzing enzymes are the causative genes of neuropsychiatric disorders. In this review, I will summarize the evolutionary development of palmitoylation-dependent regulation of glutamatergic synapses and their dysfunctions which are caused by the disruption of palmitoylation mechanism.


Immunity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (11) ◽  
pp. 2611-2631.e8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Mirabella ◽  
Genni Desiato ◽  
Sara Mancinelli ◽  
Giuliana Fossati ◽  
Marco Rasile ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liguo Ye ◽  
Yang Xu ◽  
Ping Hu ◽  
Long Wang ◽  
Ji’an Yang ◽  
...  

Background: Lower-grade glioma (LGG) is the most common histology identified in gliomas, a heterogeneous tumor that may develop into high-grade malignant glioma that seriously shortens patient survival time. Recent studies reported that glutamatergic synapses might play an essential role in the progress of gliomas. However, the role of glutamatergic synapse-related biomarkers in LGG has not been systemically researched yet.Methods: The mRNA expression data of glioma and normal brain tissue were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database and Genotype-Tissue Expression, respectively, and the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas database was used as a validation set. Difference analysis was performed to evaluate the expression pattern of glutamatergic synapse-related genes (GSRGs) in LGG. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression was applied to construct the glutamatergic synapse-related risk signature (GSRS), and the risk score of each LGG sample was calculated based on the coefficients and expression value of selected GSRGs. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to investigate the prognostic value of risk score. Immunity profile and single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) were performed to explore the association between risk score and the characters of tumor microenvironment in LGG. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was performed to investigate the potential pathways related to GSRS. The HPA database and real-time PCR were used to identify the expression of hub genes identified in GSRS.Results: A total of 22 genes of 39 GSRGs were found differentially expressed among normal and LGG samples. Through the LASSO algorithm, 14-genes GSRS constructed were associated with the prognosis and clinicopathological features of patients with LGG. Furthermore, the risk score level was significantly positively correlated with the infiltrating level of immunosuppressive cells, including M2 macrophages and regulatory T cells. GSVA identified a series of cancer-related pathways related to GSRS, such as P13K-AKT and P53 pathways. Moreover, ATAD1, NLGN2, OXTR, and TNR, hub genes identified in GSRS, were considered as potential prognostic biomarkers in LGG.Conclusion: A 14-genes GSRS was constructed and verified in this study. We provided a novel insight into the role of GSRS in LGG through a series of bioinformatics methods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qianqian Huang ◽  
Haibin Zhao ◽  
Chen Zhang ◽  
Ying Hao ◽  
Qihong Ma ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundAlzheimer's Disease (AD) as an age-related, irreversible neurodegenerative disease, characterized by cognitive dysfunction, has become progressively serious as a result of a global increase in life expectancy. As more mechanism of AD were discovered, therapeutic strategies using traditional Chinese medicine are under investigation for AD treatment, with efforts to improve efficacy and clarify the mechanism. Gastrodia, elata Blume, Polygala tenuifolia Willd., Cistanche deserticola Ma, Rehmannia lutinosa (Gaertn.)DC.,Acorus gramineus Aiton, and Curcuma longa L. are well-known chinese herbs with neuroprotective effects and widely used as a combination in traditional Chinese decoction for AD treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the synergistic protective efficacy of the combination (composed of extracts from these six Chinese medicines, CuraUltra), and the protein targets on scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment, using the proteomics analysis.MethodsScopolamine-induced cognitive impairment mouse model was established. Behavioral tests, Nissl Staining, cerebral cholinergic system alterations and neuronal apoptosis characteristics were examined to evaluate the ameliorating effects of CuraUltra on cognitive impairment induced by scopolamine. To identify the potential molecular mechanism responsible for the effect on CuraUltra treatment, label-free quantitative proteomics by tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) were performed. Critical altered proteins were validated by qPCR and Western blotting. Molecular docking was finally performed to evaluate the binding potential of chemical components with the target proteins.Results Administration of CuraUltra significantly recovered scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment, as evidenced by the improved learning and memory ability, reduced pathological damage of hippocampus, increased content of Ach, decreased activity of AchE, and ameliorated expression levels of the neuronal apoptosis-related protein in the hippocampus of mice. Using quantitative proteomics technology, we observed 252 differentially expressed proteins. Compared with the model group, after CuraUltra treatments, a remarkedly alteration in PPP3CC, PKA, P38MAPK, RASA4, DNAJB1, SNAPIN was also observed. Notably, several significant proteins are in the glutamatergic synapse signaling pathway. Moreover, we confirmed that the PPP3CC appears to decreased as the AD pathological development, and may be positively correlated with the phosphorylation level of PKA, thereby inhibiting the activation of P38MAPK phosphorylation.ConclusionsAdministration of CuraUltra was effective on alleviating scopolamine-induced cognitive impairment, which might be through modulation of glutamatergic synapse. Consequently, our quantitative proteome data obtained from scopolamine-treated model mice successfully characterized AD-related biological alterations and proposed novel protein biomarkers for AD.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C. Chow ◽  
Ryan Zhou ◽  
Fereydoun Hormozdiari

AbstractComplex disorders manifest by the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors. Through the construction of genetic modules that consist of highly co-expressed genes, it is possible to identify genes that participate in common biological pathways relevant to specific phenotypes. We have previously developed tools MAGI and MAGI-S for genetic module discovery by incorporating co-expression and protein-interaction networks. Here we introduce an extension to MAGI-S, denoted as Merging Affected Genes into Integrated Networks - Multiple Seeds (MAGI-MS), that permits the user to further specify a disease pathway of interest by selecting multiple seed genes likely to function in the same molecular mechanism. By providing MAGI-MS with pairs of seed genes involved in processes underlying certain classes of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as epilepsy, we demonstrate that MAGI-MS can reveal modules enriched in genes relevant to chemical synaptic transmission, glutamatergic synapse, and other functions associated with the provided seed genes.Availability and implementationMAGI-MS is free and is available at: https://github.com/jchow32/MAGI-MS


eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahana Sitaraman ◽  
Gnaneshwar Yadav ◽  
Vandana Agarwal ◽  
Shaista Jabeen ◽  
Shivangi Verma ◽  
...  

Gap junctions between neurons serve as electrical synapses, in addition to conducting metabolites and signaling molecules. During development, early-appearing gap junctions are thought to prefigure chemical synapses, which appear much later. We present evidence for this idea at a central, glutamatergic synapse and provide some mechanistic insights. Loss or reduction in the levels of the gap junction protein Gjd2b decreased the frequency of glutamatergic miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in cerebellar Purkinje neurons (PNs) in larval zebrafish. Ultrastructural analysis in the molecular layer showed decreased synapse density. Further, mEPSCs had faster kinetics and larger amplitudes in mutant PNs, consistent with their stunted dendritic arbors. Time-lapse microscopy in wild type and mutant PNs reveals that Gjd2b puncta promote the elongation of branches and that CaMKII may be a critical mediator of this process. These results demonstrate that Gjd2b-mediated gap junctions regulate glutamatergic synapse formation and dendritic elaboration in PNs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108758
Author(s):  
Ulyana Lalo ◽  
Wuhyun Koh ◽  
C. Justin Lee ◽  
Yuriy Pankratov

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document