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Shi H, Yang J, Lin J, Hong X, Zhou Z, Zhao J, Li Y, Li J, Wu C, Yan J, Wong NK, Gao L. A facile fluorescence-coupling approach to visualizing leonurine uptake and distribution in living cells and Caenorhabditis elegans. PHYTOMEDICINE : INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHYTOTHERAPY AND PHYTOPHARMACOLOGY 2024; 130:155737. [PMID: 38772183 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2024.155737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2023] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) has been recognized for being a useful model organism in small-molecule drug screens and drug efficacy investigation. However, there remain bottlenecks in evaluating such processes as drug uptake and distribution due to a lack of appropriate chemical tools. PURPOSE This study aims to prepare fluorescence-labeled leonurine as an example to monitor drug uptake and distribution of small molecule in C. elegans and living cells. METHODS FITC-conjugated leonurine (leonurine-P) was synthesized and characterized by LC/MS, NMR, UV absorption and fluorescence intensity. Leonurine-P was used to stain C. elegans and various mammalian cell lines. Different concentrations of leonurine were tested in conjunction with a competing parent molecule to determine whether leonurine-P and leonurine shared the same biological targets. Drug distribution was analyzed by imaging. Fluorometry in microplates and flow cytometry were performed for quantitative measurements of drug uptake. RESULTS The UV absorption peak of leonurine-P was 490∼495 nm and emission peak was 520 nm. Leonurine-P specifically bound to endogenous protein targets in C. elegans and mammalian cells, which was competitively blocked by leonurine. The highest enrichment levels of leonurine-P were observed around 72 h following exposure in C. elegans. Leonurine-P can be used in a variety of cells to observe drug distribution dynamics. Flow cytometry of stained cells can be facilely carried out to quantitatively detect probe signals. CONCLUSIONS The strategy of fluorescein-labeled drugs reported herein allows quantification of drug enrichment and visualization of drug distribution, thus illustrates a convenient approach to study phytodrugs in pharmacological contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Shi
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Jinrong Yang
- School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Jiajie Lin
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Xiaobing Hong
- Department of Pharmacy, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China
| | - Ziyuan Zhou
- National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital & Shenzhen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Shenzhen 518116, China
| | - Jiamin Zhao
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Yiwen Li
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Junjie Li
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Chaofeng Wu
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Jinwu Yan
- School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Nai-Kei Wong
- Clinical Pharmacology Section, Department of Pharmacology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 515041, China.
| | - Lei Gao
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Pharmaceutics, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China; Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine for Qingzhi Diseases, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China.
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Hellinga JR, Krücken J, Schulenburg H, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G. Use of Viscous medium to study anthelmintic drug action in Caenorhabditis elegans. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12756. [PMID: 38830930 PMCID: PMC11148144 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63090-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Caenorhabditis elegans is an appealing tool for experimental evolution and for working with antiparasitic drugs, from understanding the molecular mechanisms of drug action and resistance to uncover new drug targets. We present a new methodology for studying the impact of antiparasitic drugs in C. elegans. Viscous medium was initially designed for C. elegans maintenance during long-term evolution experiments. Viscous medium provides a less structured environment than the standard nematode growth media agar, yet the bacteria food source remains suspended. Further, the Viscous medium offers the worm population enough support to move freely, mate, and reproduce at a rate comparable to standard agar cultures. Here, the Viscous medium was adapted for use in antiparasitic research. We observed a similar sensitivity of C. elegans to anthelmintic drugs as in standard liquid media and statistical difference to the standard agar media through a larval development assay. Using Viscous medium in C. elegans studies will considerably improve antiparasitic resistance research, and this medium could be used in studies aimed at understanding long-term multigenerational drug activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline R Hellinga
- Institute für Parasitologie und Tropenveterinärmedizin, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert von Ostertag Str. 7, 14163, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jürgen Krücken
- Institute für Parasitologie und Tropenveterinärmedizin, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert von Ostertag Str. 7, 14163, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hinrich Schulenburg
- Zoologisches Institut, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 1-9, 24118, Kiel, Germany
| | - Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna
- Institute für Parasitologie und Tropenveterinärmedizin, Freie Universität Berlin, Robert von Ostertag Str. 7, 14163, Berlin, Germany.
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Itkin T, Unger K, Barak Y, Yovel A, Stekolshchik L, Ego L, Aydinov Y, Gerchman Y, Sapir A. Exploiting the Unique Biology of Caenorhabditis elegans to Launch Neurodegeneration Studies in Space. ASTROBIOLOGY 2024; 24:579-589. [PMID: 38917419 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2023.0096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
The 21st century is likely to be the first century in which large-scale short- and long-term space missions become common. Accordingly, an ever-increasing body of research is focusing on understanding the effects of current and future space expeditions on human physiology in health and disease. Yet the complex experimental environment, the small number of participants, and the high cost of space missions are among the primary factors that hinder a better understanding of the impact of space missions on human physiology. The goal of our research was to develop a cost-effective, compact, and easy-to-manipulate system to address questions related to human health and disease in space. This initiative was part of the Ramon SpaceLab program, an annual research-based learning program designed to cultivate high school students' involvement in space exploration by facilitating experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In the present study, we used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a well-suited model organism, to investigate the effect of space missions on neurodegeneration-related processes. Our study specifically focused on the level of aggregation of Huntington's disease-causing polyglutamine stretch-containing (PolyQ) proteins in C. elegans muscles, the canonical system for studying neurodegeneration in this organism. We compared animals expressing PolyQ proteins grown onboard the ISS with their genetically identical siblings grown on Earth and observed a significant difference in the number of aggregates between the two populations. Currently, it is challenging to determine whether this effect stems from developmental or morphological differences between the cultures or is a result of life in space. Nevertheless, our results serve as a proof of concept and open a new avenue for utilizing C. elegans to address various open questions in space studies, including the effects of space conditions on the onset and development of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tatyana Itkin
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Ksenia Unger
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Yair Barak
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Amit Yovel
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Liya Stekolshchik
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Linoy Ego
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Yana Aydinov
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, Shakim High School, Nahariya, Israel
| | - Yoram Gerchman
- Department of Biology and the Environment, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Oranim Academic College, Kiryat Tivon, Israel
| | - Amir Sapir
- Department of Biology and the Environment, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Yuan C, Wang Y, Zhang L, Wang D. Procatechuic acid and protocatechuic aldehyde increase survival of Caenorhabditis elegans after fungal infection and inhibit fungal virulence. Front Pharmacol 2024; 15:1396733. [PMID: 38841375 PMCID: PMC11150623 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1396733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Protocatechuic acid (PCA) and protocatechuic aldehyde (PAL) are important phenolic compounds in plants. We here investigated their possible beneficial effect against fungal infection and the underlying mechanism. The model animal of Caenorhabditis elegans was used as host, and Candida albicans was used as fungal pathogen. The nematodes were first infected with C. albicans, and the PCA and PAL treatment were then performed. Post-treatment with 10-100 μM PCA and PAL suppressed toxicity of C. albicans infection in reducing lifespan. Accompanied with this beneficial effect, treatment with 10-100 μM PCA and PAL inhibited C. albicans accumulation in intestinal lumen. In addition, treatment with 10-100 μM PCA and PAL suppressed the increase in expressions of antimicrobial genes caused by C. albicans infection. The beneficial effect of PCA and PAL against C. albicans infection depended on p38 MAPK and insulin signals. Moreover, although treatment with 10-100 μM PCA and PAL could not exhibit noticeable antifungal activity, PCA and PAL treatment obviously suppressed biofilm formation, inhibited hyphal growth, and reduced expressions of virulence genes (ALS3, CaVps34, Vma7, Vac1, and/or HWP1) related to biofilm formation and hyphal growth in C. albicans. Therefore, our data demonstrated the potential of PCA and PAL post-treatment against fungal infection and fungal virulence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunyan Yuan
- Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yuxing Wang
- Deaprtment of Biochemistry and Molecrla Biology, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Le Zhang
- Deaprtment of Biochemistry and Molecrla Biology, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Dayong Wang
- Deaprtment of Biochemistry and Molecrla Biology, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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Yong YY, Yan L, Wang BD, Fan DS, Guo MS, Yu L, Wu JM, Qin DL, Law BYK, Wong VKW, Yu CL, Zhou XG, Wu AG. Penthorum chinense Pursh inhibits ferroptosis in cellular and Caenorhabditis elegans models of Alzheimer's disease. PHYTOMEDICINE : INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHYTOTHERAPY AND PHYTOPHARMACOLOGY 2024; 127:155463. [PMID: 38452694 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2024.155463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ferroptosis, a unique type of cell death triggered by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a debilitating condition marked by memory loss and cognitive impairment due to the accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated Tau protein. Increasing evidence suggests that inhibitors of ferroptosis could be groundbreaking in the treatment of AD. METHOD In this study, we established in vitro ferroptosis using erastin-, RSL-3-, hemin-, and iFSP1-induced PC-12 cells. Using MTT along with Hoechst/PI staining, we assessed cell viability and death. To determine various aspects of ferroptosis, we employed fluorescence probes, including DCFDA, JC-1, C11 BODIPY, Mito-Tracker, and PGSK, to measure ROS production, mitochondrial membrane potential, lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial morphology, and intracellular iron levels. Additionally, Western blotting, biolayer interferometry technology, and shRNA were utilized to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, p-CAX APP Swe/Ind- and pRK5-EGFP-Tau P301L overexpressing PC-12 cells, along with Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) strains CL4176, CL2331, and BR5270, were employed to examine ferroptosis in AD models. RESULTS Here, we conducted a screening of our natural medicine libraries and identified the ethanol extract of Penthorum chinense Pursh (PEE), particularly its ethyl acetate fraction (PEF), displayed inhibitory effects on ferroptosis in cells. Specifically, PEF inhibited the generation of ROS, lipid peroxidation, and intracellular iron levels. Furthermore, PEF demonstrated protective effects against H2O2-induced cell death, ROS production, and mitochondrial damage. Mechanistic investigations unveiled PEF's modulation of intracellular iron accumulation, GPX4 expression and activity, and FSP1 expression. In p-CAX APP Swe/Ind and pRK5-EGFP-Tau P301L overexpressing PC-12 cells, PEF significantly reduced cell death, as well as ROS and lipid peroxidase production. Moreover, PEF ameliorated paralysis and slowing rate in Aβ and Tau transgenic C. elegans models, while inhibiting ferroptosis, as evidenced by decreased DHE intensity, lipid peroxidation levels, iron accumulation, and expression of SOD-3 and gst-4. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight the suppressive effects of PEF on ferroptosis in AD cellular and C. elegans models. This study helps us better understand how ferroptosis affects AD and emphasizes the potential of PCP as a candidate for AD intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan-Yuan Yong
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Lu Yan
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Bin-Ding Wang
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Dong-Sheng Fan
- Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Gui Yang, 550000, China
| | - Min-Song Guo
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Lu Yu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Jian-Ming Wu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Da-Lian Qin
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China
| | - Betty Yuen-Kwan Law
- State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau 99078, China
| | - Vincent Kam-Wai Wong
- State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau 99078, China
| | - Chong-Lin Yu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China.
| | - Xiao-Gang Zhou
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China.
| | - An-Guo Wu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China.
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Özdemir ÖÜ, Yurt K, Pektaş AN, Berk Ş. Evaluation and normalization of a set of reliable reference genes for quantitative sgk-1 gene expression analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans-focused cancer research. NUCLEOSIDES, NUCLEOTIDES & NUCLEIC ACIDS 2024:1-20. [PMID: 38359339 DOI: 10.1080/15257770.2024.2317413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Multiple signaling pathways have been discovered to play a role in aging and longevity, including the insulin/IGF-1 signaling system, AMPK pathway, TOR signaling, JNK pathway, and germline signaling. Mammalian serum and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase 1 (sgk-1), which has been associated with various disorders including hypertension, obesity, and tumor growth, limits survival in C. elegans by reducing DAF-16/FoxO activity while suppressing FoxO3 activity in human cell culture. C. elegans provides significant protection for a number of genes associated with human cancer. The best known of these are the lin-35/pRb (mammalian ortholog pRb) and CEP-1 (mammalian ortholog p53) genes. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the expression analyzes of sgk-1, which is overexpressed in many types of mammalian cancer, in mutant lin-35 and to demonstrate the validation of reference genes in wild-type N2 and mutant lin-35 for C. elegans-focused cancer research. To develop functional genomic studies in C. elegans, we evaluated the expression stability of five candidate reference genes (act-1, ama-1, cdc-42, pmp-3, iscu-1) by quantitative real-time PCR using five algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, Delta Ct method, BestKeeper, RefFinder) in N2 and lin-35 worms. According to our findings, act-1 and cdc-42 were effective in accurately normalizing the levels of gene expression in N2 and lin-35. act-1 and cdc-42 also displayed the most consistent expression patterns, therefore they were utilized to standardize expression level of sgk-1. Furthermore, our results clearly showed that sgk-1 was upregulated in lin-35 worms compared to N2 worms. Our results highlight the importance of definitive validation using mostly expressed reference genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Özgür Ülkü Özdemir
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
| | - Kübra Yurt
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
| | - Ayşe Nur Pektaş
- Advanced Technology Research and Application Center (CUTAM), Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
| | - Şeyda Berk
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
- Advanced Technology Research and Application Center (CUTAM), Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey
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Eck RJ, Stair JG, Kraemer BC, Liachko NF. Simple models to understand complex disease: 10 years of progress from Caenorhabditis elegans models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Front Neurosci 2024; 17:1300705. [PMID: 38239833 PMCID: PMC10794587 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1300705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans are a powerful model system to study human disease, with numerous experimental advantages including significant genetic and cellular homology to vertebrate animals, a short lifespan, and tractable behavioral, molecular biology and imaging assays. Beginning with the identification of SOD1 as a genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), C. elegans have contributed to a deeper understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of this devastating neurodegenerative disease. More recently this work has expanded to encompass models of other types of ALS and the related disease frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-TDP), including those characterized by mutation or accumulation of the proteins TDP-43, C9orf72, FUS, HnRNPA2B1, ALS2, DCTN1, CHCHD10, ELP3, TUBA4A, CAV1, UBQLN2, ATXN3, TIA1, KIF5A, VAPB, GRN, and RAB38. In this review we summarize these models and the progress and insights from the last ten years of using C. elegans to study the neurodegenerative diseases ALS and FTLD-TDP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Randall J. Eck
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Jade G. Stair
- Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Brian C. Kraemer
- Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Nicole F. Liachko
- Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, United States
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Kirchweger B, Zwirchmayr J, Grienke U, Rollinger JM. The role of Caenorhabditis elegans in the discovery of natural products for healthy aging. Nat Prod Rep 2023; 40:1849-1873. [PMID: 37585263 DOI: 10.1039/d3np00021d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Covering: 2012 to 2023The human population is aging. Thus, the greatest risk factor for numerous diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, is increasing worldwide. Age-related diseases do not typically occur in isolation, but as a result of multi-factorial causes, which in turn require holistic approaches to identify and decipher the mode of action of potential remedies. With the advent of C. elegans as the primary model organism for aging, researchers now have a powerful in vivo tool for identifying and studying agents that effect lifespan and health span. Natural products have been focal research subjects in this respect. This review article covers key developments of the last decade (2012-2023) that have led to the discovery of natural products with healthy aging properties in C. elegans. We (i) discuss the state of knowledge on the effects of natural products on worm aging including methods, assays and involved pathways; (ii) analyze the literature on natural compounds in terms of their molecular properties and the translatability of effects on mammals; (iii) examine the literature on multi-component mixtures with special attention to the studied organisms, extraction methods and efforts regarding the characterization of their chemical composition and their bioactive components. (iv) We further propose to combine small in vivo model organisms such as C. elegans and sophisticated analytical approaches ("wormomics") to guide the way to dissect complex natural products with anti-aging properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Kirchweger
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Julia Zwirchmayr
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Ulrike Grienke
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Judith M Rollinger
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
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Currie SD, Doherty JP, Xue KS, Wang JS, Tang L. The stage-specific toxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2023; 336:122429. [PMID: 37619695 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a diverse class of industrial chemicals that have been used for decades in industrial and commercial applications. Due to their widespread usages, persistence in the environment, and bioaccumulation in animals and humans, great public health concerns have been raised on adverse health risks of PFAS. In this study, ten PFAS were selected according to their occurrence in different water bodies. The wild-type worms were exposed to individual PFAS at 0, 0.1, 1,10, 100, and 200 μM, and the toxic effects of PFAS on growth, development, fecundity, and behavior at different life stages were investigated using a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform. Our results showed that perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), 1H,1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (NEtFOSAA), perfluorobutanesulfonic (PFBS), and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) exhibited significant inhibitive effects on the growth in the L4 larva and later stages of worms with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 200 μmol/L. PFOS and PFBS significantly decreased the brood size of worms across all tested concentrations (p < 0.05), and the most potent PFAS is PFOS with BMC of 0.02013 μM (BMCL, 1.6e-06 μM). During adulthood, all PFAS induced a significant reduction in motility (p < 0.01), while only PFOS can significantly induce behavior alteration at the early larvae stage. Furthermore, the adverse effects occurred in larval stages were found to be the most susceptible to the PFAS exposure. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential adverse effects associated with PFAS exposure and show the importance of considering developmental stages in toxicity assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seth D Currie
- Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA; Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Joseph Patrick Doherty
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Kathy S Xue
- Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Jia-Sheng Wang
- Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA; Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - Lili Tang
- Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA; Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
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Alonso A, Kirkegaard JB. Fast detection of slender bodies in high density microscopy data. Commun Biol 2023; 6:754. [PMID: 37468539 PMCID: PMC10356847 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05098-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Computer-aided analysis of biological microscopy data has seen a massive improvement with the utilization of general-purpose deep learning techniques. Yet, in microscopy studies of multi-organism systems, the problem of collision and overlap remains challenging. This is particularly true for systems composed of slender bodies such as swimming nematodes, swimming spermatozoa, or the beating of eukaryotic or prokaryotic flagella. Here, we develop a end-to-end deep learning approach to extract precise shape trajectories of generally motile and overlapping slender bodies. Our method works in low resolution settings where feature keypoints are hard to define and detect. Detection is fast and we demonstrate the ability to track thousands of overlapping organisms simultaneously. While our approach is agnostic to area of application, we present it in the setting of and exemplify its usability on dense experiments of swimming Caenorhabditis elegans. The model training is achieved purely on synthetic data, utilizing a physics-based model for nematode motility, and we demonstrate the model's ability to generalize from simulations to experimental videos.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Alonso
- Niels Bohr Institute & Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Julius B Kirkegaard
- Niels Bohr Institute & Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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11
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Kukhtar D, Fussenegger M. Synthetic biology in multicellular organisms: Opportunities in nematodes. Biotechnol Bioeng 2023. [PMID: 37448225 DOI: 10.1002/bit.28497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023]
Abstract
Synthetic biology has mainly focused on introducing new or altered functionality in single cell systems: primarily bacteria, yeast, or mammalian cells. Here, we describe the extension of synthetic biology to nematodes, in particular the well-studied model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, as a convenient platform for developing applications in a multicellular setting. We review transgenesis techniques for nematodes, as well as the application of synthetic biology principles to construct nematode gene switches and genetic devices to control motility. Finally, we discuss potential applications of engineered nematodes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmytro Kukhtar
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Martin Fussenegger
- Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland
- Faculty of Life Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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12
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Liu T, Zhuang Z, Wang D. Paeoniflorin mitigates high glucose-induced lifespan reduction by inhibiting insulin signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans. Front Pharmacol 2023; 14:1202379. [PMID: 37405055 PMCID: PMC10315627 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1202379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/06/2023] Open
Abstract
In organisms, high glucose can cause several aspects of toxicity, including the lifespan reduction. Paeoniflorin is the major component of Paeoniaceae plants. Nevertheless, the possible effect of paeoniflorin to suppress high glucose toxicity in reducing lifespan and underlying mechanism are largely unclear. Thus, in this study, we examined the possible effect of paeoniflorin in suppressing high glucose (50 mM)-induced lifespan reduction and the underlying mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans. Administration with 16-64 mg/L paeoniflorin could prolong the lifespan in glucose treated nematodes. Accompanied with this beneficial effect, in glucose treated nematodes, expressions of daf-2 encoding insulin receptor and its downstream kinase genes (age-1, akt-1, and akt-2) were decreased and expression of daf-16 encoding FOXO transcriptional factor was increased by 16-64 mg/L paeoniflorin administration. Meanwhile, the effect of paeoniflorin in extending lifespan in glucose treated nematodes was enhanced by RNAi of daf-2, age-1, akt-1, and akt-2 and inhibited by RNAi of daf-16. In glucose treated nematodes followed by paeoniflorin administration, the increased lifespan caused by daf-2 RNAi could be suppressed by RNAi of daf-16, suggesting that DAF-2 acted upstream of DAF-16 to regulate pharmacological effect of paeoniflorin. Moreover, in glucose treated nematodes followed by paeoniflorin administration, expression of sod-3 encoding mitochondrial Mn-SOD was inhibited by daf-16 RNAi, and the effect of paeoniflorin in extending lifespan in glucose treated nematodes could be suppressed by sod-3 RNAi. Molecular docking analysis indicated the binding potential of paeoniflorin with DAF-2, AGE-1, AKT-1, and AKT-2. Therefore, our results demonstrated the beneficial effect of paeoniflorin administration in inhibiting glucose-induced lifespan reduction by suppressing signaling cascade of DAF-2-AGE-1-AKT-1/2-DAF-16-SOD-3 in insulin signaling pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianwen Liu
- School of Pharmaceutical Engineering and Life Science, Changzhou University, Changzhou, China
- Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Ziheng Zhuang
- School of Pharmaceutical Engineering and Life Science, Changzhou University, Changzhou, China
| | - Dayong Wang
- Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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13
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Oliveira JD, Rodrigues da Silva GH, de Moura LD, Göethel G, Papini JZB, Casadei BR, Ribeiro LNDM, Cabeça LF, Garcia SC, Martinez EF, Tofoli GR, de Paula E. DoE development of ionic gradient liposomes: A successful approach to improve encapsulation, prolong anesthesia and decrease the toxicity of etidocaine. Int J Pharm 2023; 634:122672. [PMID: 36738810 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.122672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Etidocaine (EDC) is a long-acting local anesthetic of the aminoamide family whose use was discontinued in 2008 for alleged toxicity issues. Ionic gradient liposomes (IGL) are nanostructured carriers for which an inner/outer gradient of ions increases drug upload. This work describes IGLEDC, a formulation optimized by Design of Experiments, composed of hydrogenated soy phosphatidylcholine:cholesterol:EDC, and characterized by DLS, NTA, TEM/Cryo-TEM, DSC and 1H NMR. The optimized IGL showed significant encapsulation efficiency (41 %), good shelf stability (180 days) and evidence of EDC interaction with the lipid bilayer (as seen by DSC and 1H NMR results) that confirms its membrane permeation. In vitro (release kinetics and cytotoxicity) tests showed that the encapsulation of EDC into the IGL promoted sustained release for 24 h and decreased by 50 % the intrinsic toxicity of EDC to Schwann cells. In vivo IGLEDC decreased the toxicity of EDC to Caenorhabditis elegans by 25 % and extended its anesthetic effect by one hour, after infiltrative administration, at clinically used (0.5 %) concentration, in rats. Thus, this novel drug delivery system is a promise for the possible reintroduction of EDC in clinics, aiming at the control of operative and postoperative pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Damasceno Oliveira
- Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Ludmila David de Moura
- Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Göethel
- Toxicology Laboratory, Pharmacy Faculty, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Juliana Z B Papini
- São Leopoldo Mandic Institute and Research Center, Campinas-São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | | | - Luis Fernando Cabeça
- Department of Chemistry, Federal Technological University of Parana, Londrina, PR, Brazil
| | - Solange Cristina Garcia
- Toxicology Laboratory, Pharmacy Faculty, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | | | | | - Eneida de Paula
- Department of Biochemistry and Tissue Biology, Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
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14
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Dranchak PK, Oliphant E, Queme B, Lamy L, Wang Y, Huang R, Xia M, Tao D, Inglese J. In vivo quantitative high-throughput screening for drug discovery and comparative toxicology. Dis Model Mech 2023; 16:dmm049863. [PMID: 36786055 PMCID: PMC10067442 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.049863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Quantitative high-throughput screening (qHTS) pharmacologically evaluates chemical libraries for therapeutic uses, toxicological risk and, increasingly, for academic probe discovery. Phenotypic high-throughput screening assays interrogate molecular pathways, often relying on cell culture systems, historically less focused on multicellular organisms. Caenorhabditis elegans has served as a eukaryotic model organism for human biology by virtue of genetic conservation and experimental tractability. Here, a paradigm enabling C. elegans qHTS using 384-well microtiter plate laser-scanning cytometry is described, in which GFP-expressing organisms revealing phenotype-modifying structure-activity relationships guide subsequent life-stage and proteomic analyses, and Escherichia coli bacterial ghosts, a non-replicating nutrient source, allow compound exposures over two life cycles, mitigating bacterial overgrowth complications. We demonstrate the method with libraries of anti-infective agents, or substances of toxicological concern. Each was tested in seven-point titration to assess the feasibility of nematode-based in vivo qHTS, and examples of follow-up strategies were provided to study organism-based chemotype selectivity and subsequent network perturbations with a physiological impact. We anticipate that this qHTS approach will enable analysis of C. elegans orthologous phenotypes of human pathologies to facilitate drug library profiling for a range of therapeutic indications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia K. Dranchak
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Erin Oliphant
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Bryan Queme
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Laurence Lamy
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Yuhong Wang
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Ruili Huang
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Menghang Xia
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - Dingyin Tao
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
| | - James Inglese
- Department of Preclinical Innovation, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20850, USA
- Metabolic Medicine Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20817, USA
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15
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Alonzo-De la Rosa CM, Miard S, Taubert S, Picard F. Methods to extract and study the biological effects of murine gut microbiota using Caenorhabditis elegans as a screening host. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0281887. [PMID: 36821579 PMCID: PMC9949637 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Gut microbiota has been established as a main regulator of health. However, how changes in gut microbiota are directly associated with physiological and cellular alterations has been difficult to tackle on a large-scale basis, notably because of the cost and labor-extensive resources required for rigorous experiments in mammals. In the present study, we used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to elucidate microbiota-host interactions. We developed a method to extract gut microbiota (MCB) from murine feces, and tested its potential as food source for and its impact on C. elegans biology compared to the standard bacterial diet Escherichia coli OP50. Although less preferred than OP50, MCB was not avoided but had a lower energy density (triglycerides and glucose). Consistently, MCB-fed worms exhibited smaller body length and size, lower fertility, and lower fat content than OP50-fed worms, but had a longer mean lifespan, which resembles the effects of calorie restriction in mammals. However, these outcomes were altered when bacteria were inactivated, suggesting an important role of symbiosis of MCB beyond nutrient source. Taken together, our findings support the effectiveness of gut MCB processing to test its effects in C. elegans. More work comparing MCB of differently treated mice or humans is required to further validate relevance to mammals before large-scale screening assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Miriam Alonzo-De la Rosa
- Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Canada
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
| | - Stéphanie Miard
- Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Canada
| | - Stefan Taubert
- British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada
- Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Frédéric Picard
- Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Canada
- Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada
- * E-mail:
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16
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Majumder S, Sackey T, Viau C, Park S, Xia J, Ronholm J, George S. Genomic and phenotypic profiling of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from bovine mastitis for antibiotic resistance and intestinal infectivity. BMC Microbiol 2023; 23:43. [PMID: 36803552 PMCID: PMC9940407 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-02785-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Staphylococcus aureus is one of the prevalent etiological agents of contagious bovine mastitis, causing a significant economic burden on the global dairy industry. Given the emergence of antibiotic resistance (ABR) and possible zoonotic spillovers, S aureus from mastitic cattle pose threat to both veterinary and public health. Therefore, assessment of their ABR status and pathogenic translation in human infection models is crucial. RESULTS In this study, 43 S. aureus isolates associated with bovine mastitis obtained from four different Canadian provinces (Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic provinces) were tested for ABR and virulence through phenotypic and genotypic profiling. All 43 isolates exhibited crucial virulence characteristics such as hemolysis, and biofilm formation, and six isolates from ST151, ST352, and ST8 categories showed ABR. Genes associated with ABR (tetK, tetM, aac6', norA, norB, lmrS, blaR, blaZ, etc.), toxin production (hla, hlab, lukD, etc.), adherence (fmbA, fnbB, clfA, clfB, icaABCD, etc.), and host immune invasion (spa, sbi, cap, adsA, etc.) were identified by analyzing whole-genome sequences. Although none of the isolates possessed human adaptation genes, both groups of ABR and antibiotic-susceptible isolates demonstrated intracellular invasion, colonization, infection, and death of human intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2), and Caenorhabditis elegans. Notably, the susceptibilities of S. aureus towards antibiotics such as streptomycin, kanamycin, and ampicillin were altered when the bacteria were internalized in Caco-2 cells and C. elegans. Meanwhile, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and ceftiofur were comparatively more effective with ≤ 2.5 log10 reductions of intracellular S. aureus. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated the potential of S. aureus isolated from mastitis cows to possess virulence characteristics enabling invasion of intestinal cells thus calling for developing therapeutics capable of targeting drug-resistant intracellular pathogens for effective disease management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satwik Majumder
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Room-1039, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Trisha Sackey
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Room-1039, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Charles Viau
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Soyoun Park
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Room-1039, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Jianguo Xia
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada ,grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Animal Science, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Jennifer Ronholm
- grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Room-1039, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada ,grid.14709.3b0000 0004 1936 8649Department of Animal Science, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9 Canada
| | - Saji George
- Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Room-1039, 21, 111 Lakeshore Ste Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, H9X 3V9, Canada.
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17
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Hu C, Garey KW. Nonmammalian models to study Clostridioides difficile infection; a systematic review. Anaerobe 2023; 79:102694. [PMID: 36626950 PMCID: PMC9975065 DOI: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2023.102694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Clostridioide difficile is the leading cause of diarrhea disease worldwide and is a CDC-designated urgent threat level pathogen. Mammalian models are commonly utilized as gold standard to study the pathogenesis of C. difficile infection (CDI); however, alternatives are needed due to cost, higher throughput ability, and mammalian animal ethics. Nonmammalian models such as great wax worm, nematode, fruit fly, and zebrafish have been used as CDI models. This review provides a comprehensive summary of nonmammalian models used to study CDI. Multiple studies were identified using these models to study C. difficile infection, pathogenicity, colonization, host immunity, and therapy. Translational outcomes and strength and weakness of each nonmammalian model are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenlin Hu
- University of Houston College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, 77204, USA
| | - Kevin W Garey
- University of Houston College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, 77204, USA.
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18
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He S, Lim GE. The Application of High-Throughput Approaches in Identifying Novel Therapeutic Targets and Agents to Treat Diabetes. Adv Biol (Weinh) 2023; 7:e2200151. [PMID: 36398493 DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202200151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
During the past decades, unprecedented progress in technologies has revolutionized traditional research methodologies. Among these, advances in high-throughput drug screening approaches have permitted the rapid identification of potential therapeutic agents from drug libraries that contain thousands or millions of molecules. Moreover, high-throughput-based therapeutic target discovery strategies can comprehensively interrogate relationships between biomolecules (e.g., gene, RNA, and protein) and diseases and significantly increase the authors' knowledge of disease mechanisms. Diabetes is a chronic disease primarily characterized by the incapacity of the body to maintain normoglycemia. The prevalence of diabetes in modern society has become a severe public health issue that threatens the well-being of millions of patients. Although a number of pharmacological treatments are available, there is no permanent cure for diabetes, and discovering novel therapeutic targets and agents continues to be an urgent need. The present review discusses the technical details of high-throughput screening approaches in drug discovery, followed by introducing the applications of such approaches to diabetes research. This review aims to provide an example of the applicability of high-throughput technologies in facilitating different aspects of disease research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyi He
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, 2900 Edouard Montpetit Blvd, Montreal, Québec, H3T 1J4, Canada.,Cardiometabolic Axis, Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), 900 rue St Denis, Montreal, Québec, H2X 0A9, Canada
| | - Gareth E Lim
- Department of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Roger-Gaudry, 2900 Edouard Montpetit Blvd, Montreal, Québec, H3T 1J4, Canada.,Cardiometabolic Axis, Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), 900 rue St Denis, Montreal, Québec, H2X 0A9, Canada
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19
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Venkatesh N, Mohankumar A, Murugadoss G, Sundararaj P, Hatamleh AA, Alnafisi BK, Kumar MR, Gouse Peera S, Sakthivel P. Visible light active hybrid silver decorated g-C 3N 4-CeO 2 nanocomposite for ultrafast photocatalytic activity and toxicity evaluation. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 216:114749. [PMID: 36356667 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Development of hybrid graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) nanocomposite is an emerging research area in wastewater treatment. Herein, hybrid visible light active photocatalyst of silver decorated polymeric graphitic carbon nitride and (Ag-GCN) with cerium oxide (CeO2) nanocomposite was prepared and characterized in detail. The Ag-GCN/CeO2 photocatalyst has successfully prepared by an electrostatic self-assembly approach. The synthesized Ag-GCN/CeO2 NCs photocatalysts are characterized by various physio-chemical techniques. Using the Ag-GCN/CeO2 catalyst, the excellent photodegradation efficiency of Acid yellow-36 (AY-36) and Direct yellow-12 (DY-12) dye solution were achieved 100% within 150 min sun light irradiation. The Ag-GCN/CeO2 rate constant values of 0.048 and 0.046/min has been determined for AY-36 and DR-12 dyes, respectively. The extraordinary photocatalytic activity is due to incorporation of CeO2 with Ag-GCN which play a significant role in visible light absorption, superior reactive oxygen generation (ROS) and excellent pollutant catalyst interaction. The toxicity of the photocatalytically degraded AY-36 and DR-12 dyes were measured using the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a well-established in vivo model in biology, by analyzing survival, physiological functions, intracellular ROS levels, and stress-protective gene expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nachimuthu Venkatesh
- Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India
| | | | - Govindhasamy Murugadoss
- Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600 119, Tamil Nadu, India.
| | | | - Ashraf Atef Hatamleh
- Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Bassam Khalid Alnafisi
- Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Manavalan Rajesh Kumar
- Institute of Natural Science and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, 620002, Russia
| | - Shaik Gouse Peera
- Department of Environmental Science, Keimyung University, Dalseo-gu, Daegu, 42601, South Korea.
| | - Pachagounder Sakthivel
- Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641 046, Tamil Nadu, India.
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20
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Advances in application and innovation of microfluidic platforms for pharmaceutical analysis. Trends Analyt Chem 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2023.116951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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21
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He CL, Tang Y, Chen X, Long T, He YN, Wei J, Wu JM, Lan C, Yu L, Huang FH, Gu CW, Liu J, Yu CL, Wong VKW, Law BYK, Qin DL, Wu AG, Zhou XG. Folium Hibisci Mutabilis extract, a potent autophagy enhancer, exhibits neuroprotective properties in multiple models of neurodegenerative diseases. PHYTOMEDICINE : INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHYTOTHERAPY AND PHYTOPHARMACOLOGY 2023; 109:154548. [PMID: 36610154 DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Protein aggregates are considered key pathological features in neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). The induction of autophagy can effectively promote the clearance of ND-related misfolded proteins. OBJECTIVE In this study, we aimed to screen natural autophagy enhancers from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) presenting potent neuroprotective potential in multiple ND models. METHODS The autophagy enhancers were broadly screened in our established herbal extract library using the transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) DA2123 strain. The neuroprotective effects of the identified autophagy enhancers were evaluated in multiple C. elegans ND models by measuring Aβ-, Tau-, α-synuclein-, and polyQ40-induced pathologies. In addition, PC-12 cells and 3 × Tg-AD mice were employed to further validate the neuroprotective ability of the identified autophagy enhancers, both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, RNAi bacteria and autophagy inhibitors were used to evaluate whether the observed effects of the identified autophagy enhancers were mediated by the autophagy-activated pathway. RESULTS The ethanol extract of Folium Hibisci Mutabilis (FHME) was found to significantly increase GFP::LGG-1-positive puncta in the DA2123 worms. FHME treatment markedly inhibited Aβ, α-synuclein, and polyQ40, as well as prolonging the lifespan and improving the behaviors of C. elegans, while siRNA targeting four key autophagy genes partly abrogated the protective roles of FHME in C. elegans. Additionally, FHME decreased the expression of AD-related proteins and restored cell viability in PC-12 cells, which were canceled by cotreatment with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or bafilomycin A1 (Baf). Moreover, FHME ameliorated AD-like cognitive impairment and pathology, as well as activating autophagy in 3 × Tg-AD mice. CONCLUSION FHME was successfully screened from our natural product library as a potent autophagy enhancer that exhibits a neuroprotective effect in multiple ND models across species through the induction of autophagy. These findings offer a new and reliable strategy for screening autophagy inducers, as well as providing evidence that FHME may serve as a possible therapeutic agent for NDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang-Long He
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; Central Nervous System Drug Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Yong Tang
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China
| | - Xue Chen
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; Central Nervous System Drug Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Tao Long
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; Central Nervous System Drug Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Yan-Ni He
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; Central Nervous System Drug Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Jing Wei
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Jian-Ming Wu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Cai Lan
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Lu Yu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Fei-Hong Huang
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Cong-Wei Gu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Jian Liu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Chong-Lin Yu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China
| | - Vincent Kam-Wai Wong
- State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China
| | - Betty Yuen-Kwan Law
- State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macao 999078, China
| | - Da-Lian Qin
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China.
| | - An-Guo Wu
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China.
| | - Xiao-Gang Zhou
- Sichuan Key Medical Laboratory of New Drug Discovery and Drugability Evaluation, Luzhou Key Laboratory of Activity Screening and Druggability Evaluation for Chinese Materia Medica, Key Laboratory of Medical Electrophysiology of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China; Central Nervous System Drug Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, Sichuan 646000, China.
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22
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Johnson CA, Behbehani R, Buss F. Unconventional Myosins from Caenorhabditis elegans as a Probe to Study Human Orthologues. Biomolecules 2022; 12:biom12121889. [PMID: 36551317 PMCID: PMC9775386 DOI: 10.3390/biom12121889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 12/09/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Unconventional myosins are a superfamily of actin-based motor proteins that perform a number of roles in fundamental cellular processes, including (but not limited to) intracellular trafficking, cell motility, endocytosis, exocytosis and cytokinesis. 40 myosins genes have been identified in humans, which belong to different 12 classes based on their domain structure and organisation. These genes are widely expressed in different tissues, and mutations leading to loss of function are associated with a wide variety of pathologies while over-expression often results in cancer. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a small, free-living, non-parasitic nematode. ~38% of the genome of C. elegans has predicted orthologues in the human genome, making it a valuable tool to study the function of human counterparts and human diseases. To date, 8 unconventional myosin genes have been identified in the nematode, from 6 different classes with high homology to human paralogues. The hum-1 and hum-5 (heavy chain of an unconventional myosin) genes encode myosin of class I, hum-2 of class V, hum-3 and hum-8 of class VI, hum-6 of class VII and hum-7 of class IX. The hum-4 gene encodes a high molecular mass myosin (307 kDa) that is one of the most highly divergent myosins and is a member of class XII. Mutations in many of the human orthologues are lethal, indicating their essential properties. However, a functional characterisation for many of these genes in C. elegans has not yet been performed. This article reviews the current knowledge of unconventional myosin genes in C. elegans and explores the potential use of the nematode to study the function and regulation of myosin motors to provide valuable insights into their role in diseases.
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23
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Zommiti M, Connil N, Tahrioui A, Groboillot A, Barbey C, Konto-Ghiorghi Y, Lesouhaitier O, Chevalier S, Feuilloley MGJ. Organs-on-Chips Platforms Are Everywhere: A Zoom on Biomedical Investigation. Bioengineering (Basel) 2022; 9:646. [PMID: 36354557 PMCID: PMC9687856 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering9110646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 08/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Over the decades, conventional in vitro culture systems and animal models have been used to study physiology, nutrient or drug metabolisms including mechanical and physiopathological aspects. However, there is an urgent need for Integrated Testing Strategies (ITS) and more sophisticated platforms and devices to approach the real complexity of human physiology and provide reliable extrapolations for clinical investigations and personalized medicine. Organ-on-a-chip (OOC), also known as a microphysiological system, is a state-of-the-art microfluidic cell culture technology that sums up cells or tissue-to-tissue interfaces, fluid flows, mechanical cues, and organ-level physiology, and it has been developed to fill the gap between in vitro experimental models and human pathophysiology. The wide range of OOC platforms involves the miniaturization of cell culture systems and enables a variety of novel experimental techniques. These range from modeling the independent effects of biophysical forces on cells to screening novel drugs in multi-organ microphysiological systems, all within microscale devices. As in living biosystems, the development of vascular structure is the salient feature common to almost all organ-on-a-chip platforms. Herein, we provide a snapshot of this fast-evolving sophisticated technology. We will review cutting-edge developments and advances in the OOC realm, discussing current applications in the biomedical field with a detailed description of how this technology has enabled the reconstruction of complex multi-scale and multifunctional matrices and platforms (at the cellular and tissular levels) leading to an acute understanding of the physiopathological features of human ailments and infections in vitro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed Zommiti
- Research Unit Bacterial Communication and Anti-infectious Strategies (CBSA, UR4312), University of Rouen Normandie, 27000 Evreux, France
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Marc G. J. Feuilloley
- Research Unit Bacterial Communication and Anti-infectious Strategies (CBSA, UR4312), University of Rouen Normandie, 27000 Evreux, France
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24
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Wlodkowic D, Jansen M. High-throughput screening paradigms in ecotoxicity testing: Emerging prospects and ongoing challenges. CHEMOSPHERE 2022; 307:135929. [PMID: 35944679 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.135929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The rapidly increasing number of new production chemicals coupled with stringent implementation of global chemical management programs necessities a paradigm shift towards boarder uses of low-cost and high-throughput ecotoxicity testing strategies as well as deeper understanding of cellular and sub-cellular mechanisms of ecotoxicity that can be used in effective risk assessment. The latter will require automated acquisition of biological data, new capabilities for big data analysis as well as computational simulations capable of translating new data into in vivo relevance. However, very few efforts have been so far devoted into the development of automated bioanalytical systems in ecotoxicology. This is in stark contrast to standardized and high-throughput chemical screening and prioritization routines found in modern drug discovery pipelines. As a result, the high-throughput and high-content data acquisition in ecotoxicology is still in its infancy with limited examples focused on cell-free and cell-based assays. In this work we outline recent developments and emerging prospects of high-throughput bioanalytical approaches in ecotoxicology that reach beyond in vitro biotests. We discuss future importance of automated quantitative data acquisition for cell-free, cell-based as well as developments in phytotoxicity and in vivo biotests utilizing small aquatic model organisms. We also discuss recent innovations such as organs-on-a-chip technologies and existing challenges for emerging high-throughput ecotoxicity testing strategies. Lastly, we provide seminal examples of the small number of successful high-throughput implementations that have been employed in prioritization of chemicals and accelerated environmental risk assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald Wlodkowic
- The Neurotox Lab, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3083, Australia.
| | - Marcus Jansen
- LemnaTec GmbH, Nerscheider Weg 170, 52076, Aachen, Germany
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25
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High-throughput small molecule screen identifies inhibitors of microsporidia invasion and proliferation in C. elegans. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5653. [PMID: 36163337 PMCID: PMC9513054 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33400-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Microsporidia are a diverse group of fungal-related obligate intracellular parasites that infect most animal phyla. Despite the emerging threat that microsporidia represent to humans and agricultural animals, few reliable treatment options exist. Here, we develop a high-throughput screening method for the identification of chemical inhibitors of microsporidia infection, using liquid cultures of Caenorhabditis elegans infected with the microsporidia species Nematocida parisii. We screen a collection of 2560 FDA-approved compounds and natural products, and identify 11 candidate microsporidia inhibitors. Five compounds prevent microsporidia infection by inhibiting spore firing, whereas one compound, dexrazoxane, slows infection progression. The compounds have in vitro activity against several other microsporidia species, including those known to infect humans. Together, our results highlight the effectiveness of C. elegans as a model host for drug discovery against intracellular pathogens, and provide a scalable high-throughput system for the identification and characterization of microsporidia inhibitors.
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26
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JM-20 affects GABA neurotransmission in Caenorhabditis elegans. Neurotoxicology 2022; 93:37-44. [PMID: 36029931 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuro.2022.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Along with the discovery of new candidate molecules for pharmaceuticals, several studies have emerged showing different mechanisms of action and toxicological aspects. 3-ethoxycarbonyl-2-methyl-4- (2-nitrophenyl)4,11-dihydro-1H-pyrido [2,3-b] [1,5] benzodiazepine (JM-20) is a hybrid molecule. It is derived from 1,5-benzodiazepines and structurally differentiated by the addition of 1,4-dihydropyridine bonded to the benzodiazepine ring. This gives this molecule potential neuroprotective, antioxidant, and anxiolytic activity. As this is a promising multi-target molecule, further studies are necessary to improve the knowledge about its mechanism of action. In our study, we used Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to investigate the effects of chronic treatment with JM-20. Nematodes from the wild-type strain (N2) were treated chronically at different concentrations of JM-20. Our results show that JM-20 does not cause mortality, but higher concentrations can delay the development of worms after 48h exposure. We assessed basic behaviors in the worm, and our data demonstrate decreased defecation cycle. Our results suggest that JM-20 acts on the C. elegans GABAergic system because GABA neurotransmission is associated with the worm intestine. We also observed increased locomotor activity and decreased egg-laying after JM-20 treatment. When both behaviors were evaluated in mutants with have reduced levels of GABA (unc-25), this effect is no observed, suggesting the GABAergic modulation. Still, the JM-20 exert similar effect of Diazepam in basic behaviors observed. To reinforce neuromodulatory action, computational analysis was performed, and results showed a JM-20 binding on allosteric sites of nematodes GABA receptors. Overall, this work provided a better understanding of the effects of JM-20 in C. elegans as well as showed the effects of this new molecule on the GABAergic system in this animal model.
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27
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Mitochonic Acid 5 Improves Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Parkinson’s Disease Model of Caenorhabditis elegans. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23179572. [PMID: 36076995 PMCID: PMC9455831 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23179572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Mitochonic Acid 5 (MA-5) enhances mitochondrial ATP production, restores fibroblasts from mitochondrial disease patients and extends the lifespan of the disease model “Mitomouse”. Additionally, MA-5 interacts with mitofilin and modulates the mitochondrial inner membrane organizing system (MINOS) in mammalian cultured cells. Here, we used the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate whether MA-5 improves the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) model. Firstly, we confirmed the efficient penetration of MA-5 in the mitochondria of C. elegans. MA-5 also alleviated symptoms such as movement decline, muscular tone, mitochondrial fragmentation and Ca2+ accumulation of the DMD model. To assess the effect of MA-5 on mitochondria perturbation, we employed a low concentration of rotenone with or without MA-5. MA-5 significantly suppressed rotenone-induced mitochondria reactive oxygen species (ROS) increase, mitochondrial network fragmentation and nuclear destruction in body wall muscles as well as endogenous ATP levels decline. In addition, MA-5 suppressed rotenone-induced degeneration of dopaminergic cephalic (CEP) neurons seen in the Parkinson’s disease (PD) model. Furthermore, the application of MA-5 reduced mitochondrial swelling due to the immt-1 null mutation. These results indicate that MA-5 has broad mitochondrial homing and MINOS stabilizing activity in metazoans and may be a therapeutic agent for these by ameliorating mitochondrial dysfunction in DMD and PD.
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28
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Hawryluk N, Zhiru L, Carlow C, Gokool S, Townson S, Kreiss T, Chojnowski A, Prorok M, Siekierka J, Ehrens A, Koschel M, Lhermitte-Vallarino N, Martin C, Hoerauf A, Hernandez G, Canan S, Khetani V, Zeldis J, Specht S, Hübner MP, Scandale I. Filarial nematode phenotypic screening cascade to identify compounds with anti-parasitic activity for drug discovery optimization. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 2022; 19:89-97. [PMID: 35834918 PMCID: PMC9278491 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2022.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Filarial diseases, including lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis, are considered among the most devastating of all tropical diseases, affecting over 86 million people worldwide. To control and more rapidly eliminate onchocerciasis requires treatments that target the adult stage of the parasite. Drug discovery efforts are challenged by the lack of preclinical animal models using the human-pathogenic filariae, requiring the use of surrogate parasites for Onchocerca volvulus for both ex vivo and in vivo evaluation. Herein, we describe a platform utilizing phenotypic ex vivo assays consisting of the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, microfilariae and adult filariae of the bovine filariae Onchocerca lienalis and Onchocerca gutturosa, respectively, as well as microfilariae and adult filariae of the feline filariae Brugia pahangi, the rodent filariae Litomosoides sigmodontis and the human-pathogenic filariae Brugia malayi to assess activity across various surrogate parasites. Utilization of those surrogate nematodes for phenotypic ex vivo assays in order to assess activity across various parasites led to the successful establishment of a screening cascade and identification of multiple compounds with potential macrofilaricidal activity and desirable physicochemical, MW = 200-400 and low lipophilicity, logP <4, and pharmacokinetic properties, rat and human liver S9 stability of ≥70% remaining at 60 min, and AUC exposures above 3 μM h. This platform demonstrated the successful establishment of a screening cascade which resulted in the discovery of potential novel macrofilaricidal compounds for futher drug discovery lead optimization efforts. This screening cascade identified two distinct chemical series wherein one compound produced a significant 68% reduction of adult Litomosoides sigmodontis in the mouse model. Successful demonstration of efficacy prompted lead optimization medicinal chemistry efforts for this novel series.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Li Zhiru
- New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, USA
| | | | - Suzanne Gokool
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, London, UK
| | - Simon Townson
- Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, London, UK
| | - Tamara Kreiss
- Sokol Institute of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
| | - Agnieszka Chojnowski
- Sokol Institute of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
| | - Monika Prorok
- Sokol Institute of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
| | - John Siekierka
- Sokol Institute of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
| | - Alexandra Ehrens
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
| | - Marianne Koschel
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Coralie Martin
- Unité Molécules de Communication et Adaptation des Microorganismes (MCAM, UMR 7245), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France
| | - Achim Hoerauf
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | - Sabine Specht
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany; Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marc P Hübner
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
| | - Ivan Scandale
- Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, Geneva, Switzerland
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A new use for old drugs: identifying compounds with an anti-obesity effect using a high through-put semi-automated Caenorhabditis elegans screening platform. Heliyon 2022; 8:e10108. [PMID: 36033279 PMCID: PMC9399480 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2022] [Revised: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Obesity is one of the most common global health problems for all age groups with obese people at risk of a variety of associated health complications. Consequently, there is a need to develop new therapies that lower body fat without the side effects. However, obesity is a complex and systemic disease, so that in vitro results are not easily translatable to clinical situations. A promising way to circumnavigate these issues is to reposition already approved drugs for new treatments, enabling a more streamlined drug discovery process due to the availability of pre-existing pharmacological and toxicological datasets. Chemical libraries, such as the Prestwick Chemical Library of 1200 FDA approved drugs, are available for this purpose. We have developed a simple semi-automated whole-organism approach to screening the Prestwick Chemical Library for those compounds which reduce fat content using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Our whole-organism approach to high-throughput screening identified 9 “lead” compounds that reduced fat within 2 weeks in the model. Further screening and analysis provided 4 “hit” compounds (Midodrine, Vinpocetine, Fenoprofen and Lamivudine) that showed significant promise as drugs to reduce fat levels. The effects of these candidates were found to further reduce fat content in nematodes where an nhr-49/PPAR mutation resulted in “overweight” worms. Upon unblinding the “hit” compounds, they were found to have recently been shown to have anti-obesity effects in mammalian models too. In developing a whole-animal chemical screen to identify pharmacological agents as potential anti-obesity compounds, we demonstrate how chemical libraries can be rapidly and relatively cheaply profiled for active hits. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans thus enables drugs to be assessed for applicability in humans and provides a new incentive to explore drug repurposing as a feasible and efficient way to identify new anti-obesity compounds.
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30
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Wu KC, Chu PC, Cheng YJ, Li CI, Tian J, Wu HY, Wu SH, Lai YC, Kao HH, Hsu AL, Lin HW, Lin CH. Development of a traditional Chinese medicine-based agent for the treatment of cancer cachexia. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle 2022; 13:2073-2087. [PMID: 35718751 PMCID: PMC9397559 DOI: 10.1002/jcsm.13028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite recent advances in understanding the pathophysiology of cancer cachexia, prevention/treatment of this debilitating disease remains an unmet medical need. METHODS We developed an integrated, multi-tiered strategy involving both in vitro and in vivo muscle atrophy platforms to identify traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-based anti-cachectic agents. In the initial screening, we used inflammatory cytokine-induced atrophy of C2C12 myotubes as a phenotypic screening platform to assess the protective effects of TCMs. The selected TCMs were then evaluated for their abilities to protect Caenorhabditis elegans from age-related reduction of mobility and contractility, followed by the C-26 colon adenocarcinoma mouse model of cachexia to confirm the anti-muscle atrophy effects (body/skeletal muscle weights, fibre size distribution, grip strengths, and serum IL-6). Transcriptome analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunoblotting were performed to gain understanding of the potential mechanism(s) by which effective TCM protected against C26 tumour-induced muscle atrophy. RESULTS Of 29 widely used TCMs, Dioscorea radix (DR) and Mu Dan Pi (MDP) showed a complete protection (all P values, 0.0002) vis-à-vis C26 conditioned medium control in the myotube atrophy platform. MDP exhibited a unique ability to ameliorate age-associated decreases in worm mobility, accompanied by improved total body contractions, relative to control (P < 0.0001 and <0.01, respectively), which, however, was not noted with DR. This differential in vivo protective effect between MDP and DR was also confirmed in the C-26 mouse model. MDP at 1000 mg/kg (MDP-H) was effective in protecting body weight loss (P < 0.05) in C-26 tumour-bearing mice without changing food or water intake, accompanied by the restoration of the fibre size distribution of hindleg skeletal muscles (P < 0.0001) and the forelimb grip strength (P < 0.05). MDP-treated C-26-tumour-bearing mice were alert, showed normal posture and better body conditions, and exhibited lower serum IL-6 levels (P = 0.06) relative to vehicle control. This decreased serum IL-6 was associated with the in vitro suppressive effect of MDP (25 and 50 μg/mL) on IL-6 secretion into culture medium by C26 cells. RNA-seq analysis, followed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and/or immunoblotting, shows that MDP's anti-cachectic effect was attributable to its ability to reverse the C-26 tumour-induced re-programming of muscle homoeostasis-associated gene expression, including that of two cachexia drivers (MuRF1 and Atrogin-1), in skeletal muscles. CONCLUSIONS All these findings suggest the translational potential of MDP to foster new strategies for the prevention and/or treatment of cachexia. The protective effect of MDP on other types of muscle atrophy such as sarcopenia might warrant investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kun-Chang Wu
- School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Research Center for Healthy Aging, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Po-Chen Chu
- Department of Cosmeceutics and Graduate Institute of Cosmeceutics, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Jung Cheng
- Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Rehabilitation, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Chia-Ing Li
- School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Jingkui Tian
- Institute of Cancer and Basic Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou, China.,College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hsing-Yu Wu
- Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Szu-Hsien Wu
- School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Institute of New Drug Development, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Chun Lai
- Research Center for Healthy Aging, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Hsiang-Han Kao
- Department of Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Ao-Lin Hsu
- Research Center for Healthy Aging, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,PhD Program for Aging, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Hsiang-Wen Lin
- School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Pharmacy, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Pharmacy System, Outcomes and Policy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Chih-Hsueh Lin
- School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.,Department of Geriatric Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
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Arampatzis AS, Tsave O, Kirchweger B, Zwirchmayr J, Papageorgiou VP, Rollinger JM, Assimopoulou AN. Expanding the Biological Properties of Alkannins and Shikonins: Their Impact on Adipogenesis and Life Expectancy in Nematodes. Front Pharmacol 2022; 13:909285. [PMID: 35754463 PMCID: PMC9216188 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.909285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Alkannin, shikonin (A/S) and their derivatives are naturally occurring hydroxynaphthoquinones biosynthesized in some species of the Boraginaceae family. These natural compounds have been extensively investigated for their biological properties over the last 40 years, demonstrating a plethora of activities, such as wound healing, regenerative, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antimicrobial and antioxidant. This study aims to extend the current knowledge by investigating the effects of various A/S compounds on two model systems, namely on 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The former constitutes an established in vitro model for investigating anti-obesity and insulin-mimetic properties, while the latter has been widely used as a model organism for studying fat accumulation, lifespan and the anthelmintic potential. A set of chemically well-defined A/S derivatives were screened for their effect on pre-adipocytes to assess cell toxicity, cell morphology, and cell differentiation. The differentiation of pre-adipocytes into mature adipocytes was examined upon treatment with A/S compounds in the presence/absence of insulin, aiming to establish a structure-activity relationship. The majority of A/S compounds induced cell proliferation at sub-micromolar concentrations. The ester derivatives exhibited higher IC50 values, and thus, proved to be less toxic to 3T3-L1 cells. The parent molecules, A and S tested at 1 μM resulted in a truncated differentiation with a reduced number of forming lipids, whereas compounds lacking the side chain hydroxyl group projected higher populations of mature adipocytes. In C. elegans mutant strain SS104, A/S enriched extracts were not able to inhibit the fat accumulation but resulted in a drastic shortage of survival. Thus, the set of A/S compounds were tested at 15 and 60 μg/ml in the wild-type strain N2 for their nematocidal activity, which is of relevance for the discovery of anthelmintic drugs. The most pronounced nematocidal activity was observed for naphthazarin and β,β-dimethyl-acryl-shikonin, followed by isovaleryl-shikonin. The latter 2 A/S esters were identified as the most abundant constituents in the mixture of A/S derivatives isolated from Alkanna tinctoria (L.) Tausch. Taken together, the findings show that the structural variations in the moiety of A/S compounds significantly impact the modulation of their biological activities in both model systems investigated in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Athanasios S Arampatzis
- Organic Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Natural Products Research Centre of Excellence (NatPro-AUTH), Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation of AUTh (CIRI-AUTh), Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Olga Tsave
- Organic Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Natural Products Research Centre of Excellence (NatPro-AUTH), Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation of AUTh (CIRI-AUTh), Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Benjamin Kirchweger
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Julia Zwirchmayr
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Vassilios P Papageorgiou
- Organic Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Natural Products Research Centre of Excellence (NatPro-AUTH), Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation of AUTh (CIRI-AUTh), Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Judith M Rollinger
- Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreana N Assimopoulou
- Organic Chemistry Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Natural Products Research Centre of Excellence (NatPro-AUTH), Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation of AUTh (CIRI-AUTh), Thessaloniki, Greece
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Anh NH, Yoon YC, Min YJ, Long NP, Jung CW, Kim SJ, Kim SW, Lee EG, Wang D, Wang X, Kwon SW. Caenorhabditis elegans deep lipidome profiling by using integrative mass spectrometry acquisitions reveals significantly altered lipid networks. J Pharm Anal 2022; 12:743-754. [PMID: 36320604 PMCID: PMC9615529 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpha.2022.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Lipidomics coverage improvement is essential for functional lipid and pathway construction. A powerful approach to discovering organism lipidome is to combine various data acquisitions, such as full scan mass spectrometry (full MS), data-dependent acquisition (DDA), and data-independent acquisition (DIA). Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a useful model for discovering toxic-induced metabolism, high-throughput drug screening, and a variety of human disease pathways. To determine the lipidome of C. elegans and investigate lipid disruption from the molecular level to the system biology level, we used integrative data acquisition. The methyl-tert-butyl ether method was used to extract L4 stage C. elegans after exposure to triclosan (TCS), perfluorooctanoic acid, and nanopolystyrene (nPS). Full MS, DDA, and DIA integrations were performed to comprehensively profile the C. elegans lipidome by Q-Exactive Plus MS. All annotated lipids were then analyzed using lipid ontology and pathway analysis. We annotated up to 940 lipids from 20 lipid classes involved in various functions and pathways. The biological investigations revealed that when C. elegans were exposed to nPS, lipid droplets were disrupted, whereas plasma membrane-functionalized lipids were likely to be changed in the TCS treatment group. The nPS treatment caused a significant disruption in lipid storage. Triacylglycerol, glycerophospholipid, and ether class lipids were those primarily hindered by toxicants. Finally, toxicant exposure frequently involved numerous lipid-related pathways, including the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B pathway. In conclusion, an integrative data acquisition strategy was used to characterize the C. elegans lipidome, providing valuable biological insights into hypothesis generation and validation. Multiple data acquisitions were used to profile the lipidome of C. elegans. 940 detected lipids of 20 main classes involved in various pathways. Relevant hypotheses were generated using high-coverable lipidomics and pathways analysis.
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Maglioni S, Schiavi A, Melcher M, Brinkmann V, Luo Z, Laromaine A, Raimundo N, Meyer JN, Distelmaier F, Ventura N. Neuroligin-mediated neurodevelopmental defects are induced by mitochondrial dysfunction and prevented by lutein in C. elegans. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2620. [PMID: 35551180 PMCID: PMC9098500 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29972-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Complex-I-deficiency represents the most frequent pathogenetic cause of human mitochondriopathies. Therapeutic options for these neurodevelopmental life-threating disorders do not exist, partly due to the scarcity of appropriate model systems to study them. Caenorhabditis elegans is a genetically tractable model organism widely used to investigate neuronal pathologies. Here, we generate C. elegans models for mitochondriopathies and show that depletion of complex I subunits recapitulates biochemical, cellular and neurodevelopmental aspects of the human diseases. We exploit two models, nuo-5/NDUFS1- and lpd-5/NDUFS4-depleted animals, for a suppressor screening that identifies lutein for its ability to rescue animals’ neurodevelopmental deficits. We uncover overexpression of synaptic neuroligin as an evolutionarily conserved consequence of mitochondrial dysfunction, which we find to mediate an early cholinergic defect in C. elegans. We show lutein exerts its beneficial effects by restoring neuroligin expression independently from its antioxidant activity, thus pointing to a possible novel pathogenetic target for the human disease. Mitochondrial deficiency causes rare incurable disorders. Here, the authors use C. elegans to study these diseases and find that the natural compound lutein prevents neurodevelopmental deficits, thus pointing to a possible therapeutic target for the human diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Silvia Maglioni
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Alfonso Schiavi
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany.,Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostic, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Marlen Melcher
- Department of General Pediatrics, Neonatology and Pediatric Cardiology, University Children's Hospital, Heinrich Heine University, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Vanessa Brinkmann
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Zhongrui Luo
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC. Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Anna Laromaine
- Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC. Campus UAB, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nuno Raimundo
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Penn State College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, 17033, USA
| | - Joel N Meyer
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708-0328, USA
| | - Felix Distelmaier
- Department of General Pediatrics, Neonatology and Pediatric Cardiology, University Children's Hospital, Heinrich Heine University, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany
| | - Natascia Ventura
- IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany. .,Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostic, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, 40225, Duesseldorf, Germany.
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Invited review: Unearthing the mechanisms of age-related neurodegenerative disease using Caenorhabditis elegans. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2022; 267:111166. [PMID: 35176489 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2022.111166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
As human life expectancy increases, neurodegenerative diseases present a growing public health threat, for which there are currently few effective treatments. There is an urgent need to understand the molecular and genetic underpinnings of these disorders so new therapeutic targets can be identified. Here we present the argument that the simple nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful tool to rapidly study neurodegenerative disorders due to their short lifespan and vast array of genetic tools, which can be combined with characterization of conserved neuronal processes and behavior orthologous to those disrupted in human disease. We review how pre-existing C. elegans models provide insight into human neurological disease as well as an overview of current tools available to study neurodegenerative diseases in the worm, with an emphasis on genetics and behavior. We also discuss open questions that C. elegans may be particularly well suited for in future studies and how worms will be a valuable preclinical model to better understand these devastating neurological disorders.
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Aubry G, Milisavljevic M, Lu H. Automated and Dynamic Control of Chemical Content in Droplets for Scalable Screens of Small Animals. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2022; 18:e2200319. [PMID: 35229457 PMCID: PMC9050880 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202200319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Screening functional phenotypes in small animals is important for genetics and drug discovery. Multiphase microfluidics has great potential for enhancing throughput but has been hampered by inefficient animal encapsulation and limited control over the animal's environment in droplets. Here, a highly efficient single-animal encapsulation unit, a liquid exchanger system for controlling the droplet chemical environment dynamically, and an automation scheme for the programming and robust execution of complex protocols are demonstrated. By careful use of interfacial forces, the liquid exchanger unit allows for adding and removing chemicals from a droplet and, therefore, generating chemical gradients inaccessible in previous multiphase systems. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as an example, it is demonstrated that these advances can serve to analyze dynamic phenotyping, such as behavior and neuronal activity, perform forward genetic screen, and are scalable to manipulate animals of different sizes. This platform paves the way for large-scale screens of complex dynamic phenotypes in small animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Aubry
- School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Marija Milisavljevic
- School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Hang Lu
- School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
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Fisher JL, Jones EF, Flanary VL, Williams AS, Ramsey EJ, Lasseigne BN. Considerations and challenges for sex-aware drug repurposing. Biol Sex Differ 2022; 13:13. [PMID: 35337371 PMCID: PMC8949654 DOI: 10.1186/s13293-022-00420-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Sex differences are essential factors in disease etiology and manifestation in many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration [33]. The biological influence of sex differences (including genomic, epigenetic, hormonal, immunological, and metabolic differences between males and females) and the lack of biomedical studies considering sex differences in their study design has led to several policies. For example, the National Institute of Health's (NIH) sex as a biological variable (SABV) and Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) policies to motivate researchers to consider sex differences [204]. However, drug repurposing, a promising alternative to traditional drug discovery by identifying novel uses for FDA-approved drugs, lacks sex-aware methods that can improve the identification of drugs that have sex-specific responses [7, 11, 14, 33]. Sex-aware drug repurposing methods either select drug candidates that are more efficacious in one sex or deprioritize drug candidates based on if they are predicted to cause a sex-bias adverse event (SBAE), unintended therapeutic effects that are more likely to occur in one sex. Computational drug repurposing methods are encouraging approaches to develop for sex-aware drug repurposing because they can prioritize sex-specific drug candidates or SBAEs at lower cost and time than traditional drug discovery. Sex-aware methods currently exist for clinical, genomic, and transcriptomic information [1, 7, 155]. They have not expanded to other data types, such as DNA variation, which has been beneficial in other drug repurposing methods that do not consider sex [114]. Additionally, some sex-aware methods suffer from poorer performance because a disproportionate number of male and female samples are available to train computational methods [7]. However, there is development potential for several different categories (i.e., data mining, ligand binding predictions, molecular associations, and networks). Low-dimensional representations of molecular association and network approaches are also especially promising candidates for future sex-aware drug repurposing methodologies because they reduce the multiple hypothesis testing burden and capture sex-specific variation better than the other methods [151, 159]. Here we review how sex influences drug response, the current state of drug repurposing including with respect to sex-bias drug response, and how model organism study design choices influence drug repurposing validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L. Fisher
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
| | - Emma F. Jones
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
| | - Victoria L. Flanary
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
| | - Avery S. Williams
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
| | - Elizabeth J. Ramsey
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
| | - Brittany N. Lasseigne
- Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA
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Workflow for Segmentation of Caenorhabditis elegans from Fluorescence Images for the Quantitation of Lipids. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/app112311420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
The small and transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is increasingly employed for phenotypic in vivo chemical screens. The influence of compounds on worm body fat stores can be assayed with Nile red staining and imaging. Segmentation of C. elegans from fluorescence images is hereby a primary task. In this paper, we present an image-processing workflow that includes machine-learning-based segmentation of C. elegans directly from fluorescence images and quantifies their Nile red lipid-derived fluorescence. The segmentation is based on a J48 classifier using pixel entropies and is refined by size-thresholding. The accuracy of segmentation was >90% in our external validation. Binarization with a global threshold set to the brightness of the vehicle control group worms of each experiment allows a robust and reproducible quantification of worm fluorescence. The workflow is available as a script written in the macro language of imageJ, allowing the user additional manual control of classification results and custom specification settings for binarization. Our approach can be easily adapted to the requirements of other fluorescence image-based experiments with C. elegans.
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Okoro NO, Odiba AS, Osadebe PO, Omeje EO, Liao G, Fang W, Jin C, Wang B. Bioactive Phytochemicals with Anti-Aging and Lifespan Extending Potentials in Caenorhabditis elegans. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26237323. [PMID: 34885907 PMCID: PMC8658929 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26237323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2021] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
In the forms of either herbs or functional foods, plants and their products have attracted medicinal, culinary, and nutraceutical applications due to their abundance in bioactive phytochemicals. Human beings and other animals have employed those bioactive phytochemicals to improve health quality based on their broad potentials as antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and anti-aging effects, amongst others. For the past decade and half, efforts to discover bioactive phytochemicals both in pure and crude forms have been intensified using the Caenorhabditis elegans aging model, in which various metabolic pathways in humans are highly conserved. In this review, we summarized the aging and longevity pathways that are common to C. elegans and humans and collated some of the bioactive phytochemicals with health benefits and lifespan extending effects that have been studied in C. elegans. This simple animal model is not only a perfect system for discovering bioactive compounds but is also a research shortcut for elucidating the amelioration mechanisms of aging risk factors and associated diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nkwachukwu Oziamara Okoro
- National Engineering Research Center for Non-Food Biorefinery, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China; (N.O.O.); (A.S.O.); (C.J.)
- College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530007, China;
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria; (P.O.O.); (E.O.O.)
| | - Arome Solomon Odiba
- National Engineering Research Center for Non-Food Biorefinery, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China; (N.O.O.); (A.S.O.); (C.J.)
- College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530007, China;
| | - Patience Ogoamaka Osadebe
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria; (P.O.O.); (E.O.O.)
| | - Edwin Ogechukwu Omeje
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria; (P.O.O.); (E.O.O.)
| | - Guiyan Liao
- State Key Laboratory of Non-Food Biomass and Enzyme Technology, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China;
| | - Wenxia Fang
- College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530007, China;
- State Key Laboratory of Non-Food Biomass and Enzyme Technology, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China;
| | - Cheng Jin
- National Engineering Research Center for Non-Food Biorefinery, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China; (N.O.O.); (A.S.O.); (C.J.)
- College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530007, China;
- Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Bin Wang
- National Engineering Research Center for Non-Food Biorefinery, Guangxi Academy of Sciences, Nanning 530007, China; (N.O.O.); (A.S.O.); (C.J.)
- College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530007, China;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +86-771-2503-601
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Chen KS, Menezes K, Rodgers JB, O’Hara DM, Tran N, Fujisawa K, Ishikura S, Khodaei S, Chau H, Cranston A, Kapadia M, Pawar G, Ping S, Krizus A, Lacoste A, Spangler S, Visanji NP, Marras C, Majbour NK, El-Agnaf OMA, Lozano AM, Culotti J, Suo S, Ryu WS, Kalia SK, Kalia LV. Small molecule inhibitors of α-synuclein oligomers identified by targeting early dopamine-mediated motor impairment in C. elegans. Mol Neurodegener 2021; 16:77. [PMID: 34772429 PMCID: PMC8588601 DOI: 10.1186/s13024-021-00497-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Parkinson's disease is a disabling neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by dopaminergic neuron loss induced by α-synuclein oligomers. There is an urgent need for disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's disease, but drug discovery is challenged by lack of in vivo models that recapitulate early stages of neurodegeneration. Invertebrate organisms, such as the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, provide in vivo models of human disease processes that can be instrumental for initial pharmacological studies. METHODS To identify early motor impairment of animals expressing α-synuclein in dopaminergic neurons, we first used a custom-built tracking microscope that captures locomotion of single C. elegans with high spatial and temporal resolution. Next, we devised a method for semi-automated and blinded quantification of motor impairment for a population of simultaneously recorded animals with multi-worm tracking and custom image processing. We then used genetic and pharmacological methods to define the features of early motor dysfunction of α-synuclein-expressing C. elegans. Finally, we applied the C. elegans model to a drug repurposing screen by combining it with an artificial intelligence platform and cell culture system to identify small molecules that inhibit α-synuclein oligomers. Screen hits were validated using in vitro and in vivo mammalian models. RESULTS We found a previously undescribed motor phenotype in transgenic α-synuclein C. elegans that correlates with mutant or wild-type α-synuclein protein levels and results from dopaminergic neuron dysfunction, but precedes neuronal loss. Together with artificial intelligence-driven in silico and in vitro screening, this C. elegans model identified five compounds that reduced motor dysfunction induced by α-synuclein. Three of these compounds also decreased α-synuclein oligomers in mammalian neurons, including rifabutin which has not been previously investigated for Parkinson's disease. We found that treatment with rifabutin reduced nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurodegeneration due to α-synuclein in a rat model. CONCLUSIONS We identified a C. elegans locomotor abnormality due to dopaminergic neuron dysfunction that models early α-synuclein-mediated neurodegeneration. Our innovative approach applying this in vivo model to a multi-step drug repurposing screen, with artificial intelligence-driven in silico and in vitro methods, resulted in the discovery of at least one drug that may be repurposed as a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin S. Chen
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Krystal Menezes
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | | | - Darren M. O’Hara
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Nhat Tran
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Kazuko Fujisawa
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Seiya Ishikura
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Shahin Khodaei
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Hien Chau
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Anna Cranston
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Minesh Kapadia
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Grishma Pawar
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Susan Ping
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Aldis Krizus
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | | | | | - Naomi P. Visanji
- Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Connie Marras
- Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Nour K. Majbour
- Neurological Disorders Research Center, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Omar M. A. El-Agnaf
- Neurological Disorders Research Center, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar
| | - Andres M. Lozano
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Joseph Culotti
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Satoshi Suo
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON Canada
- Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama Medical University, Saitama, Japan
| | - William S. Ryu
- Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
- Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Suneil K. Kalia
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
- Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
- KITE and CRANIA, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
| | - Lorraine V. Kalia
- Krembil Brain Institute, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
- Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON Canada
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
- Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
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Zhou L, Luo S, Wang X, Zhou Y, Zhang Y, Zhu S, Chen T, Feng S, Yuan M, Ding C. Blumea laciniata protected Hep G2 cells and Caenorhabditis elegans against acrylamide-induced toxicity via insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway. Food Chem Toxicol 2021; 158:112667. [PMID: 34762976 DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2021.112667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Revised: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Acrylamide (AC), a proved toxin is mainly used in industrial fields and proved to possess various toxicities. In recent years, AC has been found in starch-containing foods due to Maillard reaction in a high-temperature process. Therefore, how to mitigate the toxic effect of AC is a research spot. Blumea laciniata is a widely used folk medicine in Asia and the extract from B. laciniata (EBL) exhibited a strong protection on cells against oxidative stress. In this work, we used EBL to protect Hep G2 cells and Caenorhabditis elegans against AC toxicity. As the results turned out, EBL increased cell viability under AC stress and notably reduced the cell apoptosis through decreasing the high level of ROS. Moreover, EBL extended the survival time of C. elegans, while EBL failed to prolong the survival time of mutants that were in Insulin signaling pathway. Besides, the expressions of antioxidant enzymes were activated after the worms were treated with EBL and daf-16 gene was activated. Our results indicated that EBL exhibited a protective effect against AC induced toxicity in Hep G2 cells and C. elegans via Insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway. These outcomes may provide a promising natural drug to alleviate the toxic effect of AC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijun Zhou
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Siyuan Luo
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Xiaoju Wang
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Yiling Zhou
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Yuan Zhang
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Shuai Zhu
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Tao Chen
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Shiling Feng
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Ming Yuan
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
| | - Chunbang Ding
- College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, 625014, China.
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Bizat N, Parrales V, Laoues S, Normant S, Levavasseur E, Roussel J, Privat N, Gougerot A, Ravassard P, Beaudry P, Brandel JP, Laplanche JL, Haïk S. An in vivo Caenorhabditis elegans model for therapeutic research in human prion diseases. Brain 2021; 144:2745-2758. [PMID: 34687213 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders that include sporadic, infectious and genetic forms. Inherited Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease due to the E200K mutation of the prion protein-coding gene is the most common form of genetic prion disease. The phenotype resembles that of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at both the clinical and pathological levels, with a median disease duration of 4 months. To date, there is no available treatment for delaying the occurrence or slowing the progression of human prion diseases. Existing in vivo models do not allow high-throughput approaches that may facilitate the discovery of compounds targeting pathological assemblies of human prion protein or their effects on neuronal survival. Here, we generated a genetic model in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which is devoid of any homologue of the prion protein, by expressing human prion protein with the E200K mutation in the mechanosensitive neuronal system. Expression of E200K prion protein induced a specific behavioural pattern and neurodegeneration of green fluorescent protein-expressing mechanosensitive neurons, in addition to the formation of intraneuronal inclusions associated with the accumulation of a protease-resistant form of the prion protein. We demonstrated that this experimental system is a powerful tool for investigating the efficacy of anti-prion compounds on both prion-induced neurodegeneration and prion protein misfolding, as well as in the context of human prion protein. Within a library of 320 compounds that have been approved for human use and cross the blood-brain barrier, we identified five molecules that were active against the aggregation of the E200K prion protein and the neurodegeneration it induced in transgenic animals. This model breaks a technological limitation in prion therapeutic research and provides a key tool to study the deleterious effects of misfolded prion protein in a well-described neuronal system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Bizat
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France.,Faculté de Pharmacie de Paris, Paris University, Paris F-75006, France
| | - Valeria Parrales
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Sofian Laoues
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Sébastien Normant
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Etienne Levavasseur
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Julian Roussel
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Nicolas Privat
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Alexianne Gougerot
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Philippe Ravassard
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Patrice Beaudry
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Jean-Philippe Brandel
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France.,AP-HP, Cellule Nationale de Référence des Maladies de Creutzfeldt-Jakob, University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris F-75013, France
| | - Jean-Louis Laplanche
- Faculté de Pharmacie de Paris, Paris University, Paris F-75006, France.,Inserm, UMR-S 1144, Paris F-75006, France
| | - Stéphane Haïk
- Paris Brain Institute, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne University, Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, F-75013 Paris, France.,AP-HP, Cellule Nationale de Référence des Maladies de Creutzfeldt-Jakob, University Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris F-75013, France
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Xiao Y, Wang P, Zhu X, Xie Z. Pseudomonas donghuensis HYS gtrA/ B/ II Gene Cluster Contributes to Its Pathogenicity toward Caenorhabditis elegans. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms221910741. [PMID: 34639082 PMCID: PMC8509367 DOI: 10.3390/ijms221910741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 09/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Pseudomonas donghuensis HYS is more virulent than P. aeruginosa toward Caenorhabditis elegans but the mechanism underlying virulence is unclear. This study is the first to report that the specific gene cluster gtrA/B/II in P. donghuensis HYS is involved in the virulence of this strain toward C. elegans, and there are no reports of GtrA, GtrB and GtrII in any Pseudomonas species. The pathogenicity of P. donghuensis HYS was evaluated using C. elegans as a host. Based on the prediction of virulence factors and comparative genomic analysis of P. donghuensis HYS, we identified 42 specific virulence genes in P. donghuensis HYS. Slow-killing assays of these genes showed that the gtrAB mutation had the greatest effect on the virulence of P. donghuensis HYS, and GtrA, GtrB and GtrII all positively affected P. donghuensis HYS virulence. Two critical GtrII residues (Glu47 and Lys480) were identified in P. donghuensis HYS. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that GtrA, GtrB and GtrII were involved in the glucosylation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O-antigen in P. donghuensis HYS. Furthermore, colony-forming unit (CFU) assays showed that GtrA, GtrB and GtrII significantly enhanced P. donghuensis HYS colonization in the gut of C. elegans, and glucosylation of LPS O-antigen and colonization in the host intestine contributed to the pathogenicity of P. donghuensis HYS. In addition, experiments using the worm mutants ZD101, KU4 and KU25 revealed a correlation between P. donghuensis HYS virulence and the TIR-1/SEK-1/PMK-1 pathways of the innate immune p38 MAPK pathway in C. elegans. In conclusion, these results reveal that the specific virulence gene cluster gtrA/B/II contributes to the unique pathogenicity of HYS compared with other pathogenic Pseudomonas, and that this process also involves C. elegans innate immunity. These findings significantly increase the available information about GtrA/GtrB/GtrII-based virulence mechanisms in the genus Pseudomonas.
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43
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Taki AC, Byrne JJ, Boag PR, Jabbar A, Gasser RB. Practical High-Throughput Method to Screen Compounds for Anthelmintic Activity against Caenorhabditis elegans. Molecules 2021; 26:4156. [PMID: 34299431 PMCID: PMC8305057 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26144156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we established a practical and cost-effective high throughput screening assay, which relies on the measurement of the motility of Caenorhabditis elegans by infrared light-interference. Using this assay, we screened 14,400 small molecules from the "HitFinder" library (Maybridge), achieving a hit rate of 0.3%. We identified small molecules that reproducibly inhibited the motility of C. elegans (young adults) and assessed dose relationships for a subset of compounds. Future work will critically evaluate the potential of some of these hits as candidates for subsequent optimisation or repurposing as nematocides or nematostats. This high throughput screening assay has the advantage over many previous assays in that it is cost- and time-effective to carry out and achieves a markedly higher throughput (~10,000 compounds per week); therefore, it is suited to the screening of libraries of tens to hundreds of thousands of compounds for subsequent evaluation and development. The present phenotypic whole-worm assay should be readily adaptable to a range of socioeconomically important parasitic nematodes of humans and animals, depending on their dimensions and motility characteristics in vitro, for the discovery of new anthelmintic candidates. This focus is particularly important, given the widespread problems associated with drug resistance in many parasitic worms of livestock animals globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aya C. Taki
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; (A.C.T.); (J.J.B.); (A.J.)
| | - Joseph J. Byrne
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; (A.C.T.); (J.J.B.); (A.J.)
| | - Peter R. Boag
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia;
| | - Abdul Jabbar
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; (A.C.T.); (J.J.B.); (A.J.)
| | - Robin B. Gasser
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia; (A.C.T.); (J.J.B.); (A.J.)
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Calahorro F, Holden-Dye L, O'Connor V. Impact of drug solvents on C. elegans pharyngeal pumping. Toxicol Rep 2021; 8:1240-1247. [PMID: 34195015 PMCID: PMC8233170 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2021.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Caenorhabditis elegans provides a multi-cellular model organism for toxicology and drug discovery. These studies usually require solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethanol or acetone as a vehicle. This raises the need to carefully consider whether the chemical vehicles used in these screens are anodyne towards C. elegans. Here, we use pharyngeal pumping as a bioassay to assess this. Pharyngeal pumping is a visually scoreable behaviour that is controlled by environmental cues activating sensory and integrative neural signalling to coordinate pharyngeal activity. As such it serves as a rich bioassay to screen for chemical modulation. We found that while pumping was insensitive to high concentrations of the widely used drug solvents ethanol and acetone, it was perturbed by concentrations of DMSO above 0.5 % v/v encompassing concentrations used as drug vehicle. This was manifested as an inhibition of pharyngeal pump rate followed by a slow recovery in the continued presence of the solvent. The inhibition was not observed in a neuroligin mutant, nlg-1, consistent with DMSO acting at the level of sensory processing that modulates pumping. We found that bus-17 mutants, which have enhanced cuticle penetration to drugs are more sensitive to DMSO. The effect of DMSO is accompanied by a progressive morphological disruption in which internal membrane-like structures of varying size accumulate. These internal structures are seen in all three genotypes investigated in this study and likely arise independent of the effects on pharyngeal pumping. Overall, these results highlight sensory signalling and strain dependent vehicle sensitivity. Although we define concentrations at which this can be mitigated, it highlights the need to consider time-dependent vehicle effects when evaluating control responses in C. elegans chemical biology.
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Impact of Tuning the Surface Charge Distribution on Colloidal Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Toxicity Investigated in Caenorhabditis elegans. NANOMATERIALS 2021; 11:nano11061551. [PMID: 34208275 PMCID: PMC8230852 DOI: 10.3390/nano11061551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Assessing the toxic effect in living organisms remains a major issue for the development of safe nanomedicines and exposure of researchers involved in the synthesis, handling and manipulation of nanoparticles. In this study, we demonstrate that Caenorhabditis elegans could represent an in vivo model alternative to superior mammalians for the collection of several physiological functionality parameters associated to both short-term and long-term effects of colloidally stable nanoparticles even in absence of microbial feeding, usually reported to be necessary to ensure appropriate intake. Contextually, we investigated the impact of surface charge on toxicity of superparamagnetic iron oxide coated with a wrapping polymeric envelop that confers them optimal colloidal stability. By finely tuning the functional group composition of this shallow polymer–obtaining totally anionic, partially pegylated, partially anionic and partially cationic, respectively–we showed that the ideal surface charge organization to optimize safety of colloidal nanoparticles is the one containing both cationic and anionic groups. Our results are in accordance with previous evidence that zwitterionic nanoparticles allow long circulation, favorable distribution in the tumor area and optimal tumor penetration and thus support the hypothesis that zwitterionic iron oxide nanoparticles could be an excellent solution for diagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications in nanooncology.
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Naß J, Efferth T. Withanone Ameliorates Stress Symptoms in Caenorhabditis Elegans by Acting through Serotonin Receptors. PHARMACOPSYCHIATRY 2021; 54:215-223. [PMID: 33957677 DOI: 10.1055/a-1349-3870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Depression is responsible for 800 000 deaths worldwide, a number that will rise significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Affordable novel drugs with less severe side effects are urgently required. We investigated the effect of withanone (WN) from Withania somnifera on the serotonin system of wild-type and knockout Caenorhabditis elegans strains using in silico, in vitro, and in vivo methods. METHODS WN or fluoxetine (as positive control drug) was administered to wild-type (N2) and knockout C. elegans strains (AQ866, DA1814, DA2100, DA2109, and MT9772) to determine their effect on oxidative stress (Trolox, H2DCFDA, and juglone assays) on osmotic stress and heat stress and lifespan. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was applied to investigate the effect of WN or fluoxetine on the expression of serotonin receptors (ser-1, ser-4, ser-7) and serotonin transporter (mod-5). The binding affinity of WN to serotonin receptors and transporter was analyzed in silico using AutoDock 4.2.6. RESULTS WN scavenged ROS in wild-type and knockout C. elegans and prolonged their lifespan. WN upregulated the expression of serotonin receptor and transporter genes. In silico analyses revealed high binding affinities of WN to Ser-1, Ser-4, Ser-7, and Mod-5. LIMITATIONS Further studies are needed to prove whether the results from C. elegans are transferrable to mammals and human beings. CONCLUSION WN ameliorated depressive-associated stress symptoms by activating the serotonin system. WN may serve as potential candidate in developing new drugs to treat depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janine Naß
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Thomas Efferth
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
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Ellwood RA, Piasecki M, Szewczyk NJ. Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model System for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:ijms22094891. [PMID: 34063069 PMCID: PMC8125261 DOI: 10.3390/ijms22094891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been used extensively to enhance our understanding of the human neuromuscular disorder Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). With new arising clinically relevant models, technologies and treatments, there is a need to reconcile the literature and collate the key findings associated with this model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca A. Ellwood
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Versus Arthritis, Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research, Royal Derby Hospital, University of Nottingham, Derby DE22 3DT, UK; (R.A.E.); (M.P.)
- National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Derby DE22 3DT, UK
| | - Mathew Piasecki
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Versus Arthritis, Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research, Royal Derby Hospital, University of Nottingham, Derby DE22 3DT, UK; (R.A.E.); (M.P.)
- National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Derby DE22 3DT, UK
| | - Nathaniel J. Szewczyk
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Versus Arthritis, Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research, Royal Derby Hospital, University of Nottingham, Derby DE22 3DT, UK; (R.A.E.); (M.P.)
- National Institute for Health Research, Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Derby DE22 3DT, UK
- Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurologic Institute, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
- Correspondence:
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Garcia-Sanchez JA, Ewbank JJ, Visvikis O. Ubiquitin-related processes and innate immunity in C. elegans. Cell Mol Life Sci 2021; 78:4305-4333. [PMID: 33630111 PMCID: PMC11072174 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-021-03787-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Innate immunity is an evolutionary ancient defence strategy that serves to eliminate infectious agents while maintaining host health. It involves a complex network of sensors, signaling proteins and immune effectors that detect the danger, then relay and execute the immune programme. Post-translational modifications relying on conserved ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins are an integral part of the system. Studies using invertebrate models of infection, such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, have greatly contributed to our understanding of how ubiquitin-related processes act in immune sensing, regulate immune signaling pathways, and participate to host defence responses. This review highlights the interest of working with a genetically tractable model organism and illustrates how C. elegans has been used to identify ubiquitin-dependent immune mechanisms, discover novel ubiquitin-based resistance strategies that mediate pathogen clearance, and unravel the role of ubiquitin-related processes in tolerance, preserving host fitness during pathogen attack. Special emphasis is placed on processes that are conserved in mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan A Garcia-Sanchez
- INSERM, C3M, Côte D'Azur University, Nice, France
- INSERM, CNRS, CIML, Turing Centre for Living Systems, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
| | - Jonathan J Ewbank
- INSERM, CNRS, CIML, Turing Centre for Living Systems, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
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Fardghassemi Y, Maios C, Parker JA. Small Molecule Rescue of ATXN3 Toxicity in C. elegans via TFEB/HLH-30. Neurotherapeutics 2021; 18:1151-1165. [PMID: 33782863 PMCID: PMC8423969 DOI: 10.1007/s13311-020-00993-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), also known as Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), is a polyglutamine expansion disease arising from a trinucleotide CAG repeat expansion in exon 10 of the gene ATXN3. There are no effective pharmacological treatments for MJD, thus the identification of new pathogenic mechanisms, and the development of novel therapeutics is urgently needed. In this study, we performed a comprehensive, blind drug screen of 3942 compounds (many FDA approved) and identified small molecules that rescued the motor-deficient phenotype in transgenic ATXN3 Caenorhabditis elegans strain. Out of this screen, five lead compounds restoring motility, protecting against neurodegeneration, and increasing the lifespan in ATXN3-CAG89 mutant worms were identified. These compounds were alfacalcidol, chenodiol, cyclophosphamide, fenbufen, and sulfaphenazole. We then investigated how these molecules might exert their neuroprotective properties. We found that three of these compounds, chenodiol, fenbufen, and sulfaphenazole, act as modulators for TFEB/HLH-30, a key transcriptional regulator of the autophagy process, and require this gene for their neuroprotective activities. These genetic-chemical approaches, using genetic C. elegans models for MJD and the screening, are promising tools to understand the mechanisms and pathways causing neurodegeneration, leading to MJD. Positively acting compounds may be promising candidates for investigation in mammalian models of MJD and preclinical applications in the treatment of this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasmin Fardghassemi
- Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec H2X 0A9 Canada
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - Claudia Maios
- Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec H2X 0A9 Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4 Canada
| | - J. Alex Parker
- Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec H2X 0A9 Canada
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4 Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H3T 1J4 Canada
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Giunti S, Andersen N, Rayes D, De Rosa MJ. Drug discovery: Insights from the invertebrate Caenorhabditis elegans. Pharmacol Res Perspect 2021; 9:e00721. [PMID: 33641258 PMCID: PMC7916527 DOI: 10.1002/prp2.721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic drug development is a long, expensive, and complex process that usually takes 12-15 years. In the early phases of drug discovery, in particular, there is a growing need for animal models that ensure the reduction in both cost and time. Caenorhabditis elegans has been traditionally used to address fundamental aspects of key biological processes, such as apoptosis, aging, and gene expression regulation. During the last decade, with the advent of large-scale platforms for screenings, this invertebrate has also emerged as an essential tool in the pharmaceutical research industry to identify novel drugs and drug targets. In this review, we discuss the reasons why C. elegans has been positioned as an outstanding cost-effective option for drug discovery, highlighting both the advantages and drawbacks of this model. Particular attention is paid to the suitability of this nematode in large-scale genetic and pharmacological screenings. High-throughput screenings in C. elegans have indeed contributed to the breakthrough of a wide variety of candidate compounds involved in extensive fields including neurodegeneration, pathogen infections and metabolic disorders. The versatility of this nematode, which enables its instrumentation as a model of human diseases, is another attribute also herein underscored. As illustrative examples, we discuss the utility of C. elegans models of both human neurodegenerative diseases and parasitic nematodes in the drug discovery industry. Summing up, this review aims to demonstrate the impact of C. elegans models on the drug discovery pipeline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastián Giunti
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca (INIBIBB) CCT UNS‐CONICETBahía BlancaArgentina
- Dpto de Biología, Bioquímica y FarmaciaUniversidad Nacional del SurBahía BlancaArgentina
| | - Natalia Andersen
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca (INIBIBB) CCT UNS‐CONICETBahía BlancaArgentina
- Dpto de Biología, Bioquímica y FarmaciaUniversidad Nacional del SurBahía BlancaArgentina
| | - Diego Rayes
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca (INIBIBB) CCT UNS‐CONICETBahía BlancaArgentina
- Dpto de Biología, Bioquímica y FarmaciaUniversidad Nacional del SurBahía BlancaArgentina
| | - María José De Rosa
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Bahía Blanca (INIBIBB) CCT UNS‐CONICETBahía BlancaArgentina
- Dpto de Biología, Bioquímica y FarmaciaUniversidad Nacional del SurBahía BlancaArgentina
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