Changes in neuropeptide expression in mice infected with prions

Gene expression alterations in Rocky Mountain elk infected with chronic wasting disease

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is an invariably fatal neurologic disease that naturally infects mule deer, white tailed deer and elk. The understanding of CWD neurodegeneration at a molecular level is very limited. In this study, microarray analysis was performed to determine changes in the gene expression profiles in six different tissues including brain, midbrain, thalamus, spleen, RPLN and tonsil of CWD-infected elk in comparison to non-infected healthy elk, using 24,000 bovine specific oligo probes. In total, 329 genes were found to be differentially expressed (> 2.0-fold) between CWD negative and positive brain tissues, with 132 genes upregulated and 197 genes downregulated. There were 249 DE genes in the spleen (168 up- and 81 downregulated), 30 DE genes in the retropharyngeal lymph node (RPLN) (18 up- and 12 downregulated), and 55 DE genes in the tonsil (21 up- and 34 downregulated). Using Gene Ontology (GO), the DE genes were assigned to functional groups associated with cellular process, biological regulation, metabolic process, and regulation of biological process. For all brain tissues, the highest ranking networks for DE genes identified by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were associated with neurological disease, cell morphology, cellular assembly and organization. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) validated the expression of DE genes primarily involved in different regulatory pathways, including neuronal signaling and synapse function, calcium signaling, apoptosis and cell death and immune cell trafficking and inflammatory response. This is the first study to evaluate altered gene expression in multiple organs including brain from orally infected elk and the results will improve our understanding of CWD neurodegeneration at the molecular level.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α regulates prion protein expression to protect against neuron cell damage

The human prion protein fragment, PrP (106-126), may contain a majority of the pathological features associated with the infectious scrapie isoform of PrP, known as PrP(Sc). Based on our previous findings that hypoxia protects neuronal cells from PrP (106-126)-induced apoptosis and increases cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) expression, we hypothesized that hypoxia-related genes, including hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α), may regulate PrP(C) expression and that these genes may be involved in prion-related neurodegenerative diseases. Hypoxic conditions are known to elicit cellular responses designed to improve cell survival through adaptive processes. Under normoxic conditions, a deferoxamine-mediated elevation of HIF-1α produced the same effect as hypoxia-inhibited neuron cell death. However, under hypoxic conditions, doxorubicin-suppressed HIF-1α attenuated the inhibitory effect on neuron cell death mediated by PrP (106-126). Knock-down of HIF-1α using lentiviral short hairpin (sh) RNA-induced downregulation of PrP(C) mRNA and protein expression under hypoxic conditions, and sensitized neuron cells to prion peptide-mediated cell death even in hypoxic conditions. In PrP(C) knockout hippocampal neuron cells, hypoxia increased the HIF-1α protein but the cells did not display the inhibitory effect of prion peptide-induced neuron cell death. Adenoviruses expressing the full length Prnp gene (Ad-Prnp) were utilized for overexpression of the Prnp gene in PrP(C) knockout hippocampal neuron cells. Adenoviral transfection of PrP(C) knockout cells with Prnp resulted in the inhibition of prion peptide-mediated cell death in these cells. This is the first report demonstrating that expression of normal PrP(C) is regulated by HIF-1α, and PrP(C) overexpression induced by hypoxia plays a pivotal role in hypoxic inhibition of prion peptide-induced neuron cell death. These results suggest that hypoxia-related genes, including HIF-1α, may be involved in the pathogenesis of prion-related diseases and as such may be a therapeutic target for prion-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Endogenous opiates and behavior: 2007

This paper is the thirtieth consecutive installment of the annual review of research concerning the endogenous opioid system. It summarizes papers published during 2007 that studied the behavioral effects of molecular, pharmacological and genetic manipulation of opioid peptides, opioid receptors, opioid agonists and opioid antagonists. The particular topics that continue to be covered include the molecular-biochemical effects and neurochemical localization studies of endogenous opioids and their receptors related to behavior, and the roles of these opioid peptides and receptors in pain and analgesia; stress and social status; tolerance and dependence; learning and memory; eating and drinking; alcohol and drugs of abuse; sexual activity and hormones, pregnancy, development and endocrinology; mental illness and mood; seizures and neurologic disorders; electrical-related activity and neurophysiology; general activity and locomotion; gastrointestinal, renal and hepatic functions; cardiovascular responses; respiration and thermoregulation; and immunological responses.