Acetyl-CoA carboxylase in rat brain. I. Activities in homogenates and isolated fractions

Iron deficiency and internalizing symptom severity in unmedicated adolescents: a pilot study

BACKGROUND

Iron plays a key role in a broad set of metabolic processes. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, but its neuropsychiatric implications in adolescents have not been examined.

METHODS

Twelve- to 17-year-old unmedicated females with major depressive or anxiety disorders or with no psychopathology underwent a comprehensive psychiatric assessment for this pilot study. A T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scan was obtained, segmented using Freesurfer. Serum ferritin concentration (sF) was measured. Correlational analyses examined the association between body iron stores, psychiatric symptom severity, and basal ganglia volumes, accounting for confounding variables.

RESULTS

Forty females were enrolled, 73% having a major depressive and/or anxiety disorder, 35% with sF < 15 ng/mL, and 50% with sF < 20 ng/mL. Serum ferritin was inversely correlated with both anxiety and depressive symptom severity (r = -0.34, p < 0.04 and r = -0.30, p < 0.06, respectively). Participants with sF < 15 ng/mL exhibited more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms as did those with sF < 20 ng/mL. Moreover, after adjusting for age and total intracranial volume, sF was inversely associated with left caudate (Spearman's r = -0.46, p < 0.04), left putamen (r = -0.58, p < 0.005), and right putamen (r = -0.53, p < 0.01) volume.

CONCLUSIONS

Brain iron may become depleted at a sF concentration higher than the established threshold to diagnose iron deficiency (i.e. 15 ng/mL), potentially disrupting brain maturation and contributing to the emergence of internalizing disorders in adolescents.

Effects Of Biotin Deficiency On Short Term Memory: The Role Of Glutamate, Glutamic Acid, Dopamine And Protein Kinase A

Insufficient dietary biotin intake, biotinidase deficiency, drug-biotin interactions can cause biotin deficiency which may result in central nervous system dysfunctions. We hypothesized that biotin deficiency could disrupt learning and memory functions by altering glutamate, glutamine, dopamine levels and protein kinase A (PKA) activity in the hippocampus. Sixteen female and 4 male Wistar rats were mated and females were separated into 4 groups. Three pups were selected from each mother and a total of 48 pups were divided into the following experimental groups. NN group, normal diet in the prenatal and postnatal period. NB group, normal diet in the prenatal and a biotin-deficient diet in the postnatal period. BN group: biotin-deficient diet in the prenatal and a normal diet in the postnatal period, BB group: biotin-deficient diet in both the prenatal and postnatal period. Open Field, Y-Maze, Object Location, and Novel Object Recognition Tests were performed in all groups and rats were sacrificed. Glutamine, glutamate, dopamine levels and PKA activity were analyzed in the hippocampus. In the open field test, distance and velocity values of NB, BN and BB groups were decreased with respect to the NN group. Learning and memory functions of NB, BN and BB groups were found to be impaired in behavioral tests. Dopamine levels and PKA activity were also decreased in all rat pups fed with a biotin deficient diet. In conclusion, we demonstrated that biotin deficiency deteriorates short-term memory and locomotor activity. This impairment may relate to decreased dopamine levels and PKA activity in the hippocampus.

Targeting demyelination and virtual hypoxia with high-dose biotin as a treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis

Progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) is a severely disabling neurological condition, and an effective treatment is urgently needed. Recently, high-dose biotin has emerged as a promising therapy for affected individuals. Initial clinical data have shown that daily doses of biotin of up to 300 mg can improve objective measures of MS-related disability. In this article, we review the biology of biotin and explore the properties of this ubiquitous coenzyme that may explain the encouraging responses seen in patients with progressive MS. The gradual worsening of neurological disability in patients with progressive MS is caused by progressive axonal loss or damage. The triggers for axonal loss in MS likely include both inflammatory demyelination of the myelin sheath and primary neurodegeneration caused by a state of virtual hypoxia within the neuron. Accordingly, targeting both these pathological processes could be effective in the treatment of progressive MS. Biotin is an essential co-factor for five carboxylases involved in fatty acid synthesis and energy production. We hypothesize that high-dose biotin is exerting a therapeutic effect in patients with progressive MS through two different and complementary mechanisms: by promoting axonal remyelination by enhancing myelin production and by reducing axonal hypoxia through enhanced energy production. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Oligodendrocytes in Health and Disease'.

Fatty acid synthesizing enzymes intrinsic to myelin

A recent study showing incorporation of acetyl groups from neuronal N-acetylaspartate into myelin lipids suggested the presence of fatty acid synthesizing enzymes in myelin that utilize the acetyl groups liberated by myelin-associated aspartoacylase [J. Neurochem. 78 (2001) 736]. We report here detection of the fatty acid synthase (FAS) complex and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in purified myelin. The activity of myelin FAS was approximately half that of cytosolic FAS and, unlike the latter, required detergent for activation. Intrinsic association of FAS with myelin was indicated by failure to remove the activity with NaCl or Na-taurocholate. Myelin-associated ACC was approximately 10% of cytosolic ACC in myelin isolated by gradient centrifugation, and this was reduced by half following osmotic shock; this suggested bimodal distribution of myelin ACC, some being loosely associated within inter-lamellar cytoplasmic spaces and the remainder more firmly associated in a manner that resists NaCl/Na-taurocholate treatments. These results, in combination with earlier findings, provide a possible mechanism for the observed incorporation of neuronal NAA acetyl groups into myelin lipids.

Relationship of iron to oligodendrocytes and myelination

Oligodendrocytes are the predominant iron-containing cells in the brain. Iron-containing oligodendrocytes are found near neuronal cell bodies, along blood vessels, and are particularly abundant within white matter tracts. Iron-positive cells in white matter are present from birth and eventually reside in defined patches of cells in the adult. These patches of iron-containing cells typically have a blood vessel in their center. Ferritin, the iron storage protein, is also expressed early in development in oligodendrocytes in a regional and cellular pattern similar to that seen for iron. Recently, the functionally distinct subunits of ferritin have been analyzed; only heavy (H)-chain ferritin is found in oligodendrocytes early in development. H-ferritin is associated with high iron utilization and low iron storage. Consistent with the expression of H-ferritin is the expression of transferrin receptors (for iron acquisition) on immature oligodendrocytes. Transferrin protein accumulation and mRNA expression in the brain are both dependent on a viable population of oligodendrocytes and may have an autocrine function to assist oligodendrocytes in iron acquisition. Although apparently the majority of oligodendrocytes in white matter tracts contain ferritin, transferrin, and iron, not all of them do, indicating that there is a subset of oligodendrocytes in white matter tracts. The only known function of oligodendrocytes is myelin production, and both a direct and indirect relationship exists between iron acquisition and myelin production. Iron is directly involved in myelin production as a required co-factor for cholesterol and lipid biosynthesis and indirectly because of its requirement for oxidative metabolism (which occurs in oligodendrocytes at a higher rate than other brain cells). Factors (such as cytokines) and conditions such as iron deficiency may reduce iron acquisition by oligodendrocytes and the susceptibility of oligodendrocytes to oxidative injury may be a result of their iron-rich cytoplasm. Thus, the many known phenomena that decrease oligodendrocyte survival and/or myelin production may mediate their effect through a final common pathway that involves disruptions in iron availability or intracellular management of iron.

Iron-enriched oligodendrocytes: a reexamination of their spatial distribution

Previous histochemical studies of iron in the brain demonstrated iron enrichment in oligodendrocytes, but the iron-enriched oligodendrocytes had a spatially restricted distribution that excluded major white matter tracts. In this study we used techniques designed to permeabilize tissue, combined with iron histochemistry, and we observed iron-enriched oligodendrocytes in regions previously thought to lack such cells. Our data suggest that most, if not all, oligodendrocytes are enriched in iron. We suggest that iron functions in the formation and/or maintenance of the myelin sheet and may play a role in the pathology of myelin diseases.