Presence of Ras guanyl nucleotide-releasing protein in striosomes of the mature and developing rat

Of local translation control and lipid signaling in neurons

Fine-tuned regulation of new proteins synthesis is key to the fast adaptation of cells to their changing environment and their response to external cues. Protein synthesis regulation is particularly refined and important in the case of highly polarized cells like neurons where translation occurs in the subcellular dendritic compartment to produce long-lasting changes that enable the formation, strengthening and weakening of inter-neuronal connection, constituting synaptic plasticity. The changes in local synaptic proteome of neurons underlie several aspects of synaptic plasticity and new protein synthesis is necessary for long-term memory formation. Details of how neuronal translation is locally controlled only start to be unraveled. A generally accepted view is that mRNAs are transported in a repressed state and are translated locally upon externally cued triggering signaling cascades that derepress or activate translation machinery at specific sites. Some important yet poorly considered intermediates in these cascades of events are signaling lipids such as diacylglycerol and its balancing partner phosphatidic acid. A link between these signaling lipids and the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability, Fragile X syndrome, is emphasizing the important role of these secondary messages in synaptically controlled translation.

Basal Ganglia disorders associated with imbalances in the striatal striosome and matrix compartments

The striatum is composed principally of GABAergic, medium spiny striatal projection neurons (MSNs) that can be categorized based on their gene expression, electrophysiological profiles, and input–output circuits. Major subdivisions of MSN populations include (1) those in ventromedial and dorsolateral striatal regions, (2) those giving rise to the direct and indirect pathways, and (3) those that lie in the striosome and matrix compartments. The first two classificatory schemes have enabled advances in understanding of how basal ganglia circuits contribute to disease. However, despite the large number of molecules that are differentially expressed in the striosomes or the extra-striosomal matrix, and the evidence that these compartments have different input–output connections, our understanding of how this compartmentalization contributes to striatal function is still not clear. A broad view is that the matrix contains the direct and indirect pathway MSNs that form parts of sensorimotor and associative circuits, whereas striosomes contain MSNs that receive input from parts of limbic cortex and project directly or indirectly to the dopamine-containing neurons of the substantia nigra, pars compacta. Striosomes are widely distributed within the striatum and are thought to exert global, as well as local, influences on striatal processing by exchanging information with the surrounding matrix, including through interneurons that send processes into both compartments. It has been suggested that striosomes exert and maintain limbic control over behaviors driven by surrounding sensorimotor and associative parts of the striatal matrix. Consistent with this possibility, imbalances between striosome and matrix functions have been reported in relation to neurological disorders, including Huntington’s disease, L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, dystonia, and drug addiction. Here, we consider how signaling imbalances between the striosomes and matrix might relate to symptomatology in these disorders.

Levodopa-induced dyskinesia is associated with increased thyrotropin releasing hormone in the dorsal striatum of hemi-parkinsonian rats

Background

Dyskinesias associated with involuntary movements and painful muscle contractions are a common and severe complication of standard levodopa (L-DOPA, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) therapy for Parkinson's disease. Pathologic neuroplasticity leading to hyper-responsive dopamine receptor signaling in the sensorimotor striatum is thought to underlie this currently untreatable condition.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed to evaluate the molecular changes associated with L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease. With this technique, we determined that thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) was greatly increased in the dopamine-depleted striatum of hemi-parkinsonian rats that developed abnormal movements in response to L-DOPA therapy, relative to the levels measured in the contralateral non-dopamine-depleted striatum, and in the striatum of non-dyskinetic control rats. ProTRH immunostaining suggested that TRH peptide levels were almost absent in the dopamine-depleted striatum of control rats that did not develop dyskinesias, but in the dyskinetic rats, proTRH immunostaining was dramatically up-regulated in the striatum, particularly in the sensorimotor striatum. This up-regulation of TRH peptide affected striatal medium spiny neurons of both the direct and indirect pathways, as well as neurons in striosomes.

Conclusions/Significance

TRH is not known to be a key striatal neuromodulator, but intrastriatal injection of TRH in experimental animals can induce abnormal movements, apparently through increasing dopamine release. Our finding of a dramatic and selective up-regulation of TRH expression in the sensorimotor striatum of dyskinetic rat models suggests a TRH-mediated regulatory mechanism that may underlie the pathologic neuroplasticity driving dopamine hyper-responsivity in Parkinson's disease.

Dysregulation of CalDAG-GEFI and CalDAG-GEFII predicts the severity of motor side-effects induced by anti-parkinsonian therapy

Voluntary movement difficulties in Parkinson's disease are initially relieved by l-DOPA therapy, but with disease progression, the repeated l-DOPA treatments can produce debilitating motor abnormalities known as l-DOPA-induced dyskinesias. We show here that 2 striatum-enriched regulators of the Ras/Rap/ERK MAP kinase signal transduction cascade, matrix-enriched CalDAG-GEFI and striosome-enriched CalDAG-GEFII (also known as RasGRP), are strongly and inversely dysregulated in proportion to the severity of abnormal movements induced by l-DOPA in a rat model of parkinsonism. In the dopamine-depleted striatum, the l-DOPA treatments produce down-regulation of CalDAG-GEFI and up-regulation of CalDAG-GEFII mRNAs and proteins, and quantification of the mRNA levels shows that these changes are closely correlated with the severity of the dyskinesias. As these CalDAG-GEFs control ERK cascades, which are implicated in l-DOPA-induced dyskinesias, and have differential compartmental expression patterns in the striatum, we suggest that they may be key molecules involved in the expression of the dyskinesias. They thus represent promising new therapeutic targets for limiting the motor complications induced by l-DOPA therapy.

Differential effects of bryostatin 1 and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate on the regulation and activation of RasGRP1 in mouse epidermal keratinocytes

The antitumor agent bryostatin 1 and the tumor-promoting phorbol esters function as structural mimetics of the second lipid messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) by binding to the C1 domain of DAG receptors. However, bryostatin 1 and the phorbol esters often differ in their cellular actions. In mouse skin, the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) is a potent tumor promoter, whereas bryostatin 1 lacks this activity and antagonizes the tumor-promoting effects of TPA. Although protein kinase C mediates many of the effects of DAG on skin, the exact mechanisms responsible for the biology of bryostatin 1 and TPA in the epidermis have not been elucidated. We recently reported that the novel DAG receptor RasGRP1 is expressed in mouse keratinocytes and mediates TPA-induced Ras activation. This finding prompted us to examine the regulation of RasGRP1 by bryostatin 1. We found that whereas TPA induced translocation of RasGRP1 to both the plasma and internal membranes of the keratinocytes, bryostatin 1 recruited RasGRP1 only to internal membranes and the nuclear envelope. In addition, TPA led to a concentration-dependent down-regulation of RasGRP1, whereas bryostatin 1 failed to induce full RasGRP1 down-regulation. Interestingly, bryostatin 1 was less effective than TPA at activating Ras. The results presented here suggest the possibility that a differential modulation of RasGRP1 by bryostatin 1 compared with TPA could participate in the disparate responses of the epidermal cells to both DAG analogues. This result may have implications in the understanding of the antitumor effects of bryostatin 1 in the skin.

Repetitive behaviors in monkeys are linked to specific striatal activation patterns

The spontaneous behavior of humans can be altered dramatically by repeated exposure to psychomotor stimulants. We have developed a primate model for analyzing the neurobiology underlying such drug-induced behavioral changes. We performed ethogram-based behavioral assays on squirrel monkeys given single or multiple cocaine treatments, and in the same monkeys made anatomical plots of striatal neurons that were activated to express early-gene proteins. A final cocaine challenge after chronic intermittent exposure to cocaine induced highly patterned behavioral changes in the monkeys, affecting individual behavioral motifs in distinct ways. In the striatum, the challenge dose induced striosome-predominant expression combined with intense dorsal early-gene expression, especially in the putamen. These patterns of gene expression were highly predictive of the levels of stereotypy exhibited by the monkeys in response to cocaine challenge. The total levels of expression, on the other hand, appeared to reflect increased spontaneous behavioral activation during the drug-free period after the cocaine exposure. We suggest that in the primate, compartmentally and regionally specific striatal activation patterns contribute to the striatal modulation of psychostimulant-induced behaviors. These observations in nonhuman primates raise the possibility that monitoring such basal ganglia activity patterns could help to delineate the neural mechanisms underlying drug-induced repetitive behaviors and related syndromes in which stereotypies are manifest.

Synthetic Bryostatin Analogues Activate the RasGRP1 Signaling Pathway

The functional properties of four diacylglycerol (DAG) analogues were compared using cell-signaling assays based on the protein RasGRP1, a DAG-regulated Ras activator. Compounds 1 and 2, synthetic analogues of bryostatin 1, were compared to authentic bryostatin 1 and phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). The two "bryologues" were able to activate RasGRP1 signaling rapidly in cultured cells and isolated mouse thymocytes. They elicited expression of the T cell activation marker CD69 in human T cells. DAG analogues promptly recruited RasGRP1 to cell membranes, but they did not induce RasGRP1 proteolysis. Bryostatin 1 and compounds 1 and 2 appeared to be less potent than PMA at inducing aggregation of mouse thymocytes, a PKC-dependent, RasGRP1-independent response. In addition to sharing potential anticancer properties with bryostatin 1, compounds 1 and 2 might be clinically useful as modulators of the immune system.

F-actin-dependent Translocation of the Rap1 GDP/GTP Exchange Factor RasGRP2

RasGRPs constitute a new group of diacylglycerol-dependent GDP/GTP exchange factors that activate Ras subfamily GTPases. Despite a common structure, Ras-GRPs diverge in their GTPase specificity, subcellular distribution, and downstream biological effects. The more divergent family member is RasGRP2, a Rap1-specific exchange factor with low affinity toward diacylglycerol. The regulation of RasGRP2 during signal transduction has remained elusive up to now. In this report, we show that the subcellular localization of Ras-GRP2 is highly dependent on actin dynamics. Thus, the induction of F-actin by cytoskeletal regulators such as Vav, Vav2, Dbl, and Rac1 leads to the shift of RasGRP2 from the cytosol to membrane ruffles and its co-localization with F-actin. Treatment of cells with cytoskeletal disrupting drugs abolishes this effect, leading to an abnormal localization of RasGRP2 in cytoplasmic clusters of actin. The use of Rac1 effector mutants indicates that the RasGRP2 translocation is linked exclusively to actin polymerization and is independent of other pathways such as p21-activated kinase JNK, or superoxide production. Biochemical experiments demonstrate that the translocation of RasGRP2 to membrane ruffles is mediated by the direct association of this protein with F-actin, a property contained within its 150 first amino acids. Finally, we show that the RasGRP2/F-actin interaction promotes the regionalized activation of Rap1 in juxtamembrane areas of the cell. These results reveal a novel function of the actin cytoskeleton in mediating the spatial activation of Ras subfamily GTPases through the selective recruitment of GDP/GTP exchange factors.

Pathophysiology of Tourette's syndrome: striatal pathways revisited

Stereotypic behaviors and thoughts are manifested in a range of neuropsychiatric disorders including Tourette's syndrome. To understand and to treat these pathologic stereotypies it is important to establish the molecular, pharmacological and systems-level alterations in brain circuits that accompany such behaviors. We review here experiments performed in rodents and primates that focus on neural concomitants of stereotypies induced by dopaminergic treatments. These studies emphasize the functional importance of the compartmental organization of the striatum and raise the possibility that differential activation of striosomes is related to the severity of the expressed stereotypies and sensitized responses.