Prediction of Neuroprotective Treatment Efficiency Using a HRMAS NMR-Based Statistical Model of Refractory Status Epilepticus on Mouse: A Metabolomic Approach Supported by Histology

Metabolomics and molecular docking-directed anti-obesity study of the ethanol extract from Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino (G. pentaphyllum) is an oriental herb documented to treat many diseases, including obesity, hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndromes and aging. However, the anti-obesity mechanism of G. pentaphyllum remains poorly understood.

AIM OF THE STUDY

To reveal the anti-obesity mechanism of G. pentaphyllum Extract (GPE) in High-Fat Diet (HFD)-induced obese mice through untargeted metabolomics, Real-Time Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), and immunohistochemical experiments. Additionally, to tentatively identify the active constituents through LC-MS/MS and molecular docking approaches.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

GPE was prepared using ethanol reflux and purified by HP-20 macroporous resins. The components of GPE were identified by Liquid Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) system. Forty-two C57BL/6 J mice were randomly and evenly divided into six groups, with seven mice in each group: the control group, obese model group, Beinaglutide group (positive control), and GPE low, medium, and high-dose groups (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg of 80% ethanol extract). Body weight, liver weight, blood glucose, blood lipids, and liver histopathological changes were assessed. Untargeted metabolomics was employed to characterize metabolic changes in obese mice after GPE treatment. The expression of genes related to differential metabolites was verified using Real-Time Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemical experiments. The constituents with anti-obesity effects from GPE were tentatively identified through molecular docking approaches.

RESULTS

A total of 17 compounds were identified in GPE. GPE significantly lowered body weight, total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in obese mice and reduced liver weight and hepatic steatosis. Serum metabolomics identified 20 potential biomarkers associated with GPE treatment in obese mice, primarily related to tryptophan metabolism. GPE treatment downregulated the expression of Slc6a19 and Tph1 and upregulated Ucp1 expression. Molecular docking illustrated that compounds such as 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg3, Araliasaponin I, Damulin B, Gypenoside L, Oleifolioside B, and Tricin7-neohesperidoside identified in GPE exhibited favorable interaction with Tph1.

CONCLUSION

The extract of G. pentaphyllum can inhibit the absorption of tryptophan and its conversion to 5-HT through the Slc6a19/Tph1 pathway, upregulating the expression of Ucp1, thereby promoting thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, facilitating weight loss, and mitigating symptoms of fatty liver. Triterpenoids such as Araliasaponin I, identified in GPE, could be the potential inhibitor of Tph1 and responsible for the anti-obesity activities.

Comparing univariate filtration preceding and succeeding PLS-DA analysis on the differential variables/metabolites identified from untargeted LC-MS metabolomics data

BACKGROUND

PLS-DA of high-dimensional metabolomics data is frequently employed to capture the most pertinent features to sample classification. But the presence of numerous insignificant input features could distort the PLS-DA model, blow up and scramble the selected differential features. Usually, univariate filtration is subsequently complemented to refine the selected features, but often giving unstable results. Whereas by precluding insignificant features through univariate data prefiltration assessed by FDR adjusted p-value, PLS-DA can generate more stable and reliable differential features. We explored and compared these two data analysis procedures to gain insights into the underlying mechanisms responsible for the disparate results.

RESULTS

The effect of univariate data filtration preceding and succeeding PLS-DA analysis on the identified discriminative features/metabolites was investigated using LC-MS data acquired on the samples of human serum and C. elegans extracts, with and without metabolite standards spiked to simulate the treated and control groups of biological samples. It was shown that the univariate data prefiltration before PLS-DA usually gave less but more stable and likely more reliable and meaningful differential features, while PLS-DA applied directly to the original data could be affected by the presence of insignificant features and orthogonal noise. Large number of insignificant variables and orthogonal noise could distort the generated PLS-DA model and affect the p(corr) value, and artificially inflate the calculated VIP values of relevant features due to the increased total number of input features for model construction, thus leading to more false positives selected by the conventional VIP threshold of 1.0.

SIGNIFICANCE AND NOVELTY

Univariate data filtration preceding PLS-DA was important for the identification of reliable differential features if using a conventional threshold of VIP of 1.0. Presence of insignificant features could distort the PLS-DA model and inflate VIP values. Appropriate VIP threshold is associated with the numbers of input features and the model components. For PLS-DA without univariate prefiltration, threshold of VIP larger than 1.0 is recommended for the selection of discriminative features to reduce the false positives.

Neurotoxicity evoked by organophosphates and available countermeasures

Organophosphorus compounds (OP) are a constant problem, both in the military and in the civilian field, not only in the form of acute poisoning but also for their long-lasting consequences. No antidote has been found that satisfactorily protects against the toxic effects of organophosphates. Likewise, there is no universal cure to avert damage after poisoning. The key mechanism of organophosphate toxicity is the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. The overstimulation of nicotinic or muscarinic receptors by accumulated acetylcholine on a synaptic cleft leads to activation of the glutamatergic system and the development of seizures. Further consequences include generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), neuroinflammation, and the formation of various other neuropathologists. In this review, we present neuroprotection strategies which can slow down the secondary nerve cell damage and alleviate neurological and neuropsychiatric disturbance. In our opinion, there is no unequivocal approach to ensure neuroprotection, however, sooner the neurotoxicity pathway is targeted, the better the results which can be expected. It seems crucial to target the key propagation pathways, i.e., to block cholinergic and, foremostly, glutamatergic cascades. Currently, the privileged approach oriented to stimulating GABA_AR by benzodiazepines is of limited efficacy, so that antagonizing the hyperactivity of the glutamatergic system could provide an even more efficacious approach for terminating OP-induced seizures and protecting the brain from permanent damage. Encouraging results have been reported for tezampanel, an antagonist of GluK1 kainate and AMPA receptors, especially in combination with caramiphen, an anticholinergic and anti-glutamatergic agent. On the other hand, targeting ROS by antioxidants cannot or already developed neuroinflammation does not seem to be very productive as other processes are also involved.

LKB1 specifies neural crest cell fates through pyruvate-alanine cycling

Metabolic processes underlying the development of the neural crest, an embryonic population of multipotent migratory cells, are poorly understood. Here, we report that conditional ablation of the Lkb1 tumor suppressor kinase in mouse neural crest stem cells led to intestinal pseudo-obstruction and hind limb paralysis. This phenotype originated from a postnatal degeneration of the enteric nervous ganglia and from a defective differentiation of Schwann cells. Metabolomic profiling revealed that pyruvate-alanine conversion is enhanced in the absence of Lkb1. Mechanistically, inhibition of alanine transaminases restored glial differentiation in an mTOR-dependent manner, while increased alanine level directly inhibited the glial commitment of neural crest cells. Treatment with the metabolic modulator AICAR suppressed mTOR signaling and prevented Schwann cell and enteric defects of Lkb1 mutant mice. These data uncover a link between pyruvate-alanine cycling and the specification of glial cell fate with potential implications in the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of neural crest diseases.

1H NMR profiling of the 6-OHDA parkinsonian rat brain reveals metabolic alterations and signs of recovery after N-acetylcysteine treatment

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease caused by degeneration of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra. The origin and causes of dopamine neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease are not well understood but oxidative stress may play an important role in its onset. Much effort has been dedicated to find biomarkers indicative of oxidative stress and neurodegenerative processes in parkinsonian brains. By using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) to identify and quantify key metabolites, it is now possible to elucidate the metabolic pathways affected by pathological conditions like neurodegeneration. The metabolic disturbances in the 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) hemiparkinsonian rat model were monitored and the nature and size of these metabolic alterations were analyzed. The results indicate that a unilateral injection of 6-OHDA into the striatum causes metabolic changes that not only affect the injected hemisphere but also the contralateral, non-lesioned side. We could clearly identify specific metabolic pathways that were affected, which were mostly related with oxidative stress and neurotransmission. In addition, a partial metabolic recovery by carrying out an antioxidant treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was observable.

Assessing Heterogeneity of Osteolytic Lesions in Multiple Myeloma by ¹H HR-MAS NMR Metabolomics

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of plasma cells characterized by multifocal osteolytic bone lesions. Macroscopic and genetic heterogeneity has been documented within MM lesions. Understanding the bases of such heterogeneity may unveil relevant features of MM pathobiology. To this aim, we deployed unbiased ¹H high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics to analyze multiple biopsy specimens of osteolytic lesions from one case of pathological fracture caused by MM. Multivariate analyses on normalized metabolite peak integrals allowed clusterization of samples in accordance with a posteriori histological findings. We investigated the relationship between morphological and NMR features by merging morphological data and metabolite profiling into a single correlation matrix. Data-merging addressed tissue heterogeneity, and greatly facilitated the mapping of lesions and nearby healthy tissues. Our proof-of-principle study reveals integrated metabolomics and histomorphology as a promising approach for the targeted study of osteolytic lesions.

Myoinositol Attenuates the Cell Loss and Biochemical Changes Induced by Kainic Acid Status Epilepticus

Identification of compounds preventing or modifying the biochemical changes that underlie the epileptogenesis process and understanding the mechanism of their action are of great importance. We have previously shown that myoinositol (MI) daily treatment for 28 days prevents certain biochemical changes that are triggered by kainic acid (KA) induced status epilepticus (SE). However in these studies we have not detected any effects of MI on the first day after SE. In the present study we broadened our research and focused on other molecular and morphological changes at the early stages of SE induced by KA and effects of MI treatment on these changes. The increase in the amount of voltage-dependent anionic channel-1 (VDAC-1), cofilin, and caspase-3 activity was observed in the hippocampus of KA treated rats. Administration of MI 4 hours later after KA treatment abolishes these changes, whereas diazepam treatment by the same time schedule has no significant influence. The number of neuronal cells in CA1 and CA3 subfields of hippocampus is decreased after KA induced SE and MI posttreatment significantly attenuates this reduction. No significant changes are observed in the neocortex. Obtained results indicate that MI posttreatment after KA induced SE could successfully target the biochemical processes involved in apoptosis, reduces cell loss, and can be successfully used in the future for translational research.

Modeling and simulation of organophosphate-induced neurotoxicity: Prediction and validation by experimental studies

Exposure to organophosphorus (OP) compounds, either pesticides or chemical warfare agents, represents a major health problem. As potent irreversible inhibitors of cholinesterase, OP may induce seizures, as in status epilepticus, and occasionally brain lesions. Although these compounds are extremely toxic agents, the search for novel antidotes remains extremely limited. In silico modeling constitutes a useful tool to identify pharmacological targets and to develop efficient therapeutic strategies. In the present work, we developed a new in silico simulator in order to predict the neurotoxicity of irreversible inhibitors of acetyl- and/or butyrylcholinesterase (ChE) as well as the potential neuroprotection provided by antagonists of cholinergic muscarinic and glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The simulator reproduced firing of CA1 hippocampal neurons triggered by exposure to paraoxon (POX), as found in patch-clamp recordings in in vitro mouse hippocampal slices. In the case of POX intoxication, it predicted a preventing action of the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine sulfate, as well as a synergistic action with the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist memantine. These in silico predictions relative to beneficial effects of atropine sulfate combined with memantine were recapitulated experimentally in an in vivo model of POX in adult male Swiss mice using electroencephalic (EEG) recordings. Thus, our simulator is a new powerful tool to identify protective therapeutic strategies against OP central effects, by screening various combinations of muscarinic and NMDA receptor antagonists.

Assessing Susceptibility to Epilepsy in Three Rat Strains Using Brain Metabolic Profiling Based on HRMAS NMR Spectroscopy and Chemometrics

The possibility that a metabolomic approach can inform about the pathophysiology of a given form of epilepsy was addressed. Using chemometric analyses of HRMAS NMR data, we compared several brain structures in three rat strains with different susceptibilities to absence epilepsy: Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg (GAERS), Non Epileptic Control rats (NEC), and Wistar rats. Two ages were investigated: 14 days postnatal (P14) before the onset of seizures and 5 month old adults with fully developed seizures (Adults). The relative concentrations of 19 metabolites were assessed using (1)H HRMAS NMR experiments. Univariate and multivariate analyses including multiblock models were used to identify the most discriminant metabolites. A strain-dependent evolution of glutamate, glutamine, scyllo-inositol, alanine, and glutathione was highlighted during cerebral maturation. In Adults, data from somatosensory and motor cortices allowed discrimination between GAERS and NEC rats with higher levels of scyllo-inositol, taurine, and phosphoethanolamine in NEC. This epileptic metabolic phenotype was in accordance with current pathophysiological hypothesis of absence epilepsy (i.e., seizure-generating and control networks) and putative resistance of NEC rats and was observed before seizure onset. This methodology could be very efficient in a clinical context.

MRS of brain metabolite levels demonstrates the ability of scavenging of excess brain glutamate to protect against nerve agent induced seizures

This study describes the use of in vivo magnetic resonance spectrocopy (MRS) to monitor brain glutamate and lactate levels in a paraoxon (PO) intoxication model. Our results show that the administration of recombinant glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (rGOT) in combination with oxaloacetate (OxAc) significantly reduces the brain-accumulated levels of glutamate. Previously we have shown that the treatment causes a rapid decrease of blood glutamate levels and creates a gradient between the brain and blood glutamate levels which leads to the efflux of excess brain glutamate into the blood stream thereby reducing its potential to cause neurological damage. The fact that this treatment significantly decreased the brain glutamate and lactate levels following PO intoxication suggests that it could become a new effective neuroprotective agent.

Metabolic phenotyping and systems biology approaches to understanding neurological disorders

The development of high-throughput metabolic profiling and the study of the metabolome are particularly important in brain research where small molecules or metabolites play fundamental signalling roles: neurotransmitters, signalling lipids, osmolytes and even ions. Metabolic profiling has shown that metabolic perturbations in the brain go beyond alterations of neurotransmission and that variations in brain metabolic homeostasis are associated with neurological disorders. In this report, we will focus on recent developments in the field of metabolic phenotyping that have contributed to unravelling the pathophysiology of neurological diseases. Also, we will highlight the necessity of implementing systems biology approaches to integrate metabolic data and tackle the structural and functional complexity of the brain in normal and pathological conditions.

Treatment of status epilepticus with ketamine, are we there yet?

Status epilepticus (SE), a neurological emergency both in adults and in children, could lead to brain damage and even death if untreated. Generalized convulsive SE (GCSE) is the most common and severe form, an example of which is that induced by organophosphorus nerve agents. First- and second-line pharmacotherapies are relatively consensual, but if seizures are still not controlled, there is currently no definitive data to guide the optimal choice of therapy. The medical community seems largely reluctant to use ketamine, a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor. However, a review of the literature clearly shows that ketamine possesses, in preclinical studies, antiepileptic properties and provides neuroprotection. Clinical evidences are scarcer and more difficult to analyze, owing to a use in situations of polytherapy. In absence of existing or planned randomized clinical trials, the medical community should make up its mind from well-conducted preclinical studies performed on appropriate models. Although potentially active, ketamine has no real place for the treatment of isolated seizures, better accepted drugs being used. Its best usage should be during GCSE, but not waiting for SE to become totally refractory. Concerns about possible developmental neurotoxicity might limit its pediatric use for refractory SE.