Suppression of Nrdp1 toxicity by Parkin in Drosophila models

Ameliorative Role of Nutraceuticals on Neurodegenerative Diseases Using the Drosophila melanogaster as a Discovery Model to Define Bioefficacy

Neurodegeneration is the destruction of neurons, and once the neurons degenerate they can't revive. This is one of the most concerned health conditions among aged population, more than ∼70% of the elderly people are suffering from neurodegeneration. Among all of the neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Poly-glutamine disease (Poly-Q) are the major one and affecting most of the people around the world and posing excessive burden on the society. In order to understand this disease in non-human animal models it is pertinent to examine in model organism and various animal model are being used for such diseases like rat, mice and non-vertebrate model like Drosophila. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the best animal proven by several eminent scientist and had received several Nobel prizes for uncovering mechanism of human related genes and highly efficient model for studying neurodegenerative diseases due to its great affinity with human disease-related genes. Another factor is also employed to act as therapeutic or preventive method that is nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals are functional natural compounds with antioxidant properties and had extensively showed the neuroprotective effect in different organisms. These nutraceuticals having antioxidant properties act through scavenging free radicals or by increasing endogenous cellular antioxidant defense molecules. For the best benefit, we are trying to utilize these nutraceuticals, which will have no or negligible side effects. In this review, we are dealing with various types of such nutraceuticals which have potent value in the prevention and curing of the diseases related to neurodegeneration.HighlightsNeurodegeneration is the silently progressing disease which shows its symptoms when it is well rooted.Many chemical drugs (almost all) have only symptomatic relief with side effects.Potent mechanism of neurodegeneration and improvement effect by nutraceuticals is proposed.Based on the Indian Cuisine scientists are trying to find the medicine from the food or food components having antioxidant properties.The best model to study the neurodegenerative diseases is Drosophila melanogaster.Many nutraceuticals having antioxidant properties have been studied and attenuated various diseases are discussed.

CgNrdp1, a conserved negative regulating factor of MyD88-dependent Toll like receptor signaling in oyster Crassostrea gigas

Toll like receptor (TLR) signaling cascades are under precise regulations to ensure the proper immune responses during various pathogen invasions. The neuregulin receptor degradation protein-1 (Nrdp1) has been demonstrated to be a novel negative regulator of TLR signaling by targeting MyD88 to induce degradation in mammals. In the present study, an Nrdp1 homologue, CgNrdp1, was identified from the genome of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. It contained an open reading frame encoding a polypeptide of 315 amino acids which shared high identities with other homologues from different species. There was a conserved RING domain in CgNrdp1, indicating the functional E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. The bacterially expressed recombinant CgNrdp1 and CgMyD88 showed much stronger affinity compared to control groups in the ELISA assay, showing the interacting ability between CgNrdp1 and CgMyD88. When CgMyD88 or HsMyD88 was co-transfected with CgNrdp1 into HEK293T cells, the luciferase activities of NF-κB were significantly decreased compared to those in MyD88 single-transfection groups, indicating the conserved negative regulating function of CgNrdp1 on the MyD88 induced TLR signaling. These results indicated that CgNrdp1 was a negative regulator of TLR signaling in oyster and the Nrdp1-MyD88 axis was functional and highly conserved from mollusks to mammals in the negative regulation of TLR signaling.

Reduced expression of PARK2 in manganese-exposed smelting workers

Manganese (Mn) is widely used in modern industries. Occupational exposure to Mn is known to cause clinical syndromes similar, but not identical to, Parkinson's disease. This human cohort study was designed to investigate if workers exposed to Mn altered the PARK2 gene expression, leading to Mn-induced neurotoxicity. Workers (n=26) occupationally exposed to Mn were recruited from a Mn-iron (Fe) alloy smelter, and control workers (n=20) without Mn-exposure were from an Fe smelter from Zunyi City in China. Subjects were matched with socioeconomic status and background for environmental factors. Metal concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Total RNA from the blood samples was isolated and analyzed by RT-PCR to quantify PARK2. The data showed that Mn concentrations in plasma, red blood cell (RBC) and saliva, and the cumulative Mn-exposure were about 2.2, 2.0, 1.7 and 3.0 fold higher, respectively, in Mn-exposed workers than those in control subjects (p<0.01). The expression of PARK2 in Mn-exposed workers was significantly decreased by 42% as compared to controls (p<0.01). Linear regression analysis further established that the expression of PARK2 mRNA was inversely correlated with Mn levels in plasma, RBC and saliva, as well as the cumulative Mn exposure (p<0.01). Taken together, it seems likely that Mn exposure among smelters may lead to a reduced expression of PARK2, which may partly explain the Mn-induced Parkinsonian disorder.

Transcriptional Effects of E3 Ligase Nrdp1 on Hypertrophy in Neonatal Rat Cardiomyocytes by Microarray and Integrated Gene Network Analysis

Objective: Neuregulin receptor degradation protein-1 (Nrdp1) is a novel E3 ubiquitin ligase, and we have previously shown that overexpression of Nrdp1 increased cardiomyocyte injury. However, the role of Nrdp1 in myocardial hypertrophy is unclear. In the present study, we clarified the molecular mechanisms of angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy regulated by Nrdp1 based on genome-wide transcriptional analysis. Methods: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were infected with adenoviruses containing green fluorescent protein (Ad-GFP) or wild-type Nrdp1 (Ad-Nrdp1), and then treated with Ang II for 36 h. Detection of differentially expressed genes was achieved with an Affymetrix Rat Gene 2.0 Array and Cluster and Java TreeView software. Results and Conclusion: Microarray data analysis demonstrated that Nrdp1 overexpression affected the expression of 12,140 mRNA genes in Ang II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, including the upregulation of 12,044 and the downregulation of 96. Gene ontology and globe signal transduction network analysis showed that Nrdp1 affected the expression of many genes related to stimulus response, the cell receptor pathway, and cell growth. Pathway network analysis identified myocardial metabolism, DNA replication, and the cell cycle as the most important pathways targeted by Nrdp1. lncRNA-mRNA coexpression network analysis showed that two core lncRNAs, NONRATT057160 and NONRATT054243, were involved in cardiomyotrophy regulated by Nrdp1 in cardiomyocytes. Taken together, these data provide compelling clues for further exploration of the function of Nrdp1 in heart disease.

Nrdp1 is Associated with Neuronal Apoptosis in Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Neuroinflammation

Neuregulin receptor degradation protein-1 (Nrdp1), a kind of ring finger E3 ubiquitin ligase, is expressed in several adult tissues, including the heart, testis, prostate and brain. Studies of this molecule have demonstrated its great importance in regulating cell growth, apoptosis and oxidative stress in various cell types. However, information regarding its expression and possible function in the central nervous system is still limited. In this study, we performed a neuroinflammation model by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) lateral ventral injection in adult rats. It was found that the expression of Nrdp1 was significantly increased in cerebral cortex after LPS injection. Immunofluorescence indicated that Nrdp1 was located in the neurons, but not astrocytes or microglia. Furthermore, there was a concomitant up-regulation of active caspase-3 and decreased expression of BRUCE (an inhibitor of apoptosis protein). In addition, decreasing Nrdp1 levels by RNA interference in cortical primary neurons reduced active caspase-3 expression but induced up-regulation of BRUCE. Collectively, all these results suggested that Nrdp1 might play a role in neuronal apoptosis by reducing the expression of BRUCE in neuroinflammation after LPS injection.

Cloning and serotonergic regulation of RING finger protein38 (rnf38) in the brain of medaka (Oryzias latipes)

Serotonin (5-HT) is a key regulator of mood and sexual behaviors. 5-HT reuptake inhibitors have been used as antidepressants. Really interesting new gene (RING) finger proteins have been associated with 5-HT regulation but their role remains largely unknown. Some RING finger proteins are involved in the serotonergic system, therefore, we speculate that the gene expression of RING finger protein38 (rnf38) is regulated by the serotonergic system. In the present study, we aimed to identify the full length sequence of medaka (Oryzias latipes) rnf38 mRNA and investigate its association with the serotonergic system using an antidepressant, citalopram (CIT). We identified the full length rnf38 cDNA, which consisted of 2726 nucleotides spanning 12 exons and the deduced protein sequence consisting of 518 amino acid residues including a RING finger domain, a KIT motif and a coiled-coil domain. Medaka exposed to 10(-7)M of CIT showed anxiety-like behavior. The expressions of 5-HT-related genes, pet1, solute carrier family 6, member 4A (slc6a4) and tryptophan hydroxylase (tph2) were significantly low (P<0.05) in the hindbrain. On the other hand, rnf38 gene was significantly high (P<0.05) in the telencephalon and the hypothalamus. This shows that 5-HT synthesis and transport in the hindbrain is suppressed by CIT, which induces rnf38 gene expression in the forebrain where 5-HT neurons project. Thus, the expression of rnf38 is negatively regulated by the serotonergic system.