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Zhu LJ, Li F, Zhu DY. nNOS and Neurological, Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A 20-Year Story. Neurosci Bull 2023; 39:1439-1453. [PMID: 37074530 PMCID: PMC10113738 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-023-01060-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
In the central nervous system, nitric oxide (NO), a free gas with multitudinous bioactivities, is mainly produced from the oxidation of L-arginine by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). In the past 20 years, the studies in our group and other laboratories have suggested a significant involvement of nNOS in a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. In particular, the interactions between the PDZ domain of nNOS and its adaptor proteins, including post-synaptic density 95, the carboxy-terminal PDZ ligand of nNOS, and the serotonin transporter, significantly influence the subcellular localization and functions of nNOS in the brain. The nNOS-mediated protein-protein interactions provide new attractive targets and guide the discovery of therapeutic drugs for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we summarize the work on the roles of nNOS and its association with multiple adaptor proteins on neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li-Juan Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Diseases, Ministry of Education, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210009, China
| | - Fei Li
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, China
| | - Dong-Ya Zhu
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 211166, China.
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Ding Y, Jin Y, Peng T, Gao Y, Zang Y, He H, Li F, Zhang Y, Zhang H, Chen L. Fabrication of multifunctional metal-organic frameworks nanoparticles via layer-by-layer self-assembly to efficiently discover PSD95-nNOS uncouplers for stroke treatment. J Nanobiotechnology 2022; 20:379. [PMID: 35964123 PMCID: PMC9375364 DOI: 10.1186/s12951-022-01583-7] [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: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Disruption of the postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD95)—neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) coupling is an effective way to treat ischemic stroke, however, it still faces some challenges, especially lack of satisfactory PSD95-nNOS uncouplers and the efficient high throughput screening model to discover them. Results Herein, the multifunctional metal–organic framework (MMOF) nanoparticles as a new screening system were innovatively fabricated via layer-by-layer self-assembly in which His-tagged nNOS was selectively immobilized on the surface of magnetic MOF, and then PSD95 with green fluorescent protein (GFP-PSD95) was specifically bound on it. It was found that MMOF nanoparticles not only exhibited the superior performances including the high loading efficiency, reusability, and anti-interference ability, but also possessed the good fluorescent sensitivity to detect the coupled GFP-PSD95. After MMOF nanoparticles interacted with the uncouplers, they would be rapidly separated from uncoupled GFP-PSD95 by magnet, and the fluorescent intensities could be determined to assay the uncoupling efficiency at high throughput level. Conclusions In conclusion, MMOF nanoparticles were successfully fabricated and applied to screen the natural actives as potential PSD95-nNOS uncouplers. Taken together, our newly developed method provided a new material as a platform for efficiently discovering PSD95-nNOS uncouplers for stoke treatment. Graphical Abstract ![]()
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-022-01583-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Ding
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Yang Jin
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Peng
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Yankun Gao
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Yang Zang
- College of Economics and Management, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui, 230036, People's Republic of China
| | - Hongliang He
- Department of Pharmacy, Sir Run Run Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Fei Li
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China
| | - Yu Zhang
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China.
| | - Hongjuan Zhang
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China.
| | - Lina Chen
- School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 211166, People's Republic of China.
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Gu Y, Zhu D. nNOS-mediated protein-protein interactions: promising targets for treating neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. J Biomed Res 2020; 35:1-10. [PMID: 33402546 PMCID: PMC7874267 DOI: 10.7555/jbr.34.20200108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders are one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and affect the health of billions of people. Nitric oxide (NO), a free gas with multitudinous bioactivities, is mainly produced from the oxidation of L-arginine by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in the brain. Inhibiting nNOS benefits a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, including stroke, depression and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain, and drug addiction. Due to critical roles of nNOS in learning and memory and synaptic plasticity, direct inhibition of nNOS may cause severe side effects. Importantly, interactions of several proteins, including post-synaptic density 95 (PSD-95), carboxy-terminal PDZ ligand of nNOS (CAPON) and serotonin transporter (SERT), with the PSD/Disc-large/ZO-1 homologous (PDZ) domain of nNOS have been demonstrated to influence the subcellular distribution and activity of the enzyme in the brain. Therefore, it will be a preferable means to interfere with nNOS-mediated protein-protein interactions (PPIs), which do not lead to undesirable effects. Herein, we summarize the current literatures on nNOS-mediated PPIs involved in neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, and the discovery of drugs targeting the PPIs, which is expected to provide potential targets for developing novel drugs and new strategy for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyuan Gu
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
| | - Dongya Zhu
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China.,Institution of Stem Cell and Neuroregeneration, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 211166, China
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David J, Gormley S, McIntosh A, Kebede V, Thuery G, Varidaki A, Coffey E, Harkin A. L-alpha-amino adipic acid provokes depression-like behaviour and a stress related increase in dendritic spine density in the pre-limbic cortex and hippocampus in rodents. Behav Brain Res 2019; 362:90-102. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Revised: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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O'Neill E, Chiara Goisis R, Haverty R, Harkin A. L-alpha-aminoadipic acid restricts dopaminergic neurodegeneration and motor deficits in an inflammatory model of Parkinson's disease in male rats. J Neurosci Res 2019; 97:804-816. [PMID: 30924171 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2018] [Revised: 02/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Neuroinflammation is a contributory factor underlying the progressive nature of dopaminergic neuronal loss within the substantia nigra (SN) of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, albeit the role of astrocytes in this process has been relatively unexplored to date. Here, we aimed to investigate the impact of midbrain astrocytic dysfunction in the pathophysiology of intra-nigral lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced experimental Parkinsonism in male Wistar rats via simultaneous co-injection of the astrocytic toxin L-alpha-aminoadipic acid (L-AAA). Simultaneous intra-nigral injection of L-AAA attenuated the LPS-induced loss of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH+ ) dopamine neurons in the SNpc and suppressed the affiliated degeneration of TH+ dopaminergic nerve terminals in the striatum. L-AAA also repressed LPS-induced nigrostriatal dopamine depletion and provided partial protection against ensuing motor dysfunction. L-AAA abrogated intra-nigral LPS-induced glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive (GFAP+ ) reactive astrogliosis and attenuated the LPS-mediated increases in nigral S100β expression levels in a time-dependent manner, findings which were associated with reduced ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1-positive (Iba1+ ) microgliosis, thus indicating a role for reactive astrocytes in sustaining microglial activation at the interface of dopaminergic neuronal loss in response to an immune stimulus. These results indicate that midbrain astrocytic dysfunction restricts the development of dopaminergic neuropathology and motor impairments in rats, highlighting reactive astrocytes as key contributors in inflammatory associated degeneration of the nigrostriatal tract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eoin O'Neill
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Rosa Chiara Goisis
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Ruth Haverty
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Andrew Harkin
- Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences & Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
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