BASP1 labels neural stem cells in the neurogenic niches of mammalian brain

Advancements in the study of synaptic plasticity and mitochondrial autophagy relationship

Synapses serve as the points of communication between neurons, consisting primarily of three components: the presynaptic membrane, synaptic cleft, and postsynaptic membrane. They transmit signals through the release and reception of neurotransmitters. Synaptic plasticity, the ability of synapses to undergo structural and functional changes, is influenced by proteins such as growth-associated proteins, synaptic vesicle proteins, postsynaptic density proteins, and neurotrophic growth factors. Furthermore, maintaining synaptic plasticity consumes more than half of the brain's energy, with a significant portion of this energy originating from ATP generated through mitochondrial energy metabolism. Consequently, the quantity, distribution, transport, and function of mitochondria impact the stability of brain energy metabolism, thereby participating in the regulation of fundamental processes in synaptic plasticity, including neuronal differentiation, neurite outgrowth, synapse formation, and neurotransmitter release. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the proteins associated with presynaptic plasticity, postsynaptic plasticity, and common factors between the two, as well as the relationship between mitochondrial energy metabolism and synaptic plasticity.

Mass Spectrometry in Cerebrospinal Fluid Uncovers Association of Glycolysis Biomarkers with Alzheimer's Disease in a Large Clinical Sample

Background

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex heterogenous neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by multiple pathophysiologies, including disruptions in brain metabolism. Defining markers for patient stratification across these pathophysiologies is an important step towards personalized treatment of AD. Efficient brain glucose metabolism is essential to sustain neuronal activity, but hypometabolism is consistently observed in AD. The molecular changes underlying these observations remain unclear. Recent studies have indicated dysregulation of several glycolysis markers in AD cerebrospinal fluid and tissue.

Methods

In this study, unbiased mass spectrometry was used to perform a deep proteomic survey of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a large-scale clinically complex cohort to uncover changes related to impaired glucose metabolism.

Results

Two glycolytic enzymes, Pyruvate kinase (PKM) and Aldolase A (ALDOA) were found to be specifically upregulated in AD CSF compared to other non-AD groups. Presence of full-length protein of these enzymes in CSF was confirmed through immunoblotting. Levels of tryptic peptides of these enzymes correlated significantly with CSF glucose and CSF lactate in matching CSF samples.

Conclusions

The results presented here indicate a general dysregulation of glucose metabolism in the brain in AD. We highlight two markers ALDOA and PKM that may act as potential functionally-relevant biomarkers of glucose metabolism dysregulation in AD.

Mass spectrometry imaging as an emerging tool for studying metabolism in human brain organoids

Human brain organoids are emerging models to study human brain development and pathology as they recapitulate the development and characteristics of major neural cell types, and enable manipulation through an in vitro system. Over the past decade, with the advent of spatial technologies, mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has become a prominent tool for metabolic microscopy, providing label-free, non-targeted molecular and spatial distribution information of the metabolites within tissue, including lipids. This technology has never been used for studies of brain organoids and here, we set out to develop a standardized protocol for preparation and mass spectrometry imaging of human brain organoids. We present an optimized and validated sample preparation protocol, including sample fixation, optimal embedding solution, homogenous deposition of matrices, data acquisition and processing to maximize the molecular information derived from mass spectrometry imaging. We focus on lipids in organoids, as they play critical roles during cellular and brain development. Using high spatial and mass resolution in positive- and negative-ion modes, we detected 260 lipids in the organoids. Seven of them were uniquely localized within the neurogenic niches or rosettes as confirmed by histology, suggesting their importance for neuroprogenitor proliferation. We observed a particularly striking distribution of ceramide-phosphoethanolamine CerPE 36:1; O2 which was restricted within rosettes and of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine PE 38:3, which was distributed throughout the organoid tissue but not in rosettes. This suggests that ceramide in this particular lipid species might be important for neuroprogenitor biology, while its removal may be important for terminal differentiation of their progeny. Overall, our study establishes the first optimized experimental pipeline and data processing strategy for mass spectrometry imaging of human brain organoids, allowing direct comparison of lipid signal intensities and distributions in these tissues. Further, our data shed new light on the complex processes that govern brain development by identifying specific lipid signatures that may play a role in cell fate trajectories. Mass spectrometry imaging thus has great potential in advancing our understanding of early brain development as well as disease modeling and drug discovery.

Depression, perceived stress, and distress during pregnancy and EV-associated miRNA profiles in MADRES

BACKGROUND

MicroRNA (miRNA) circulating in plasma has been proposed as biomarkers for a variety of diseases and stress measures, including depression, stress, and trauma. However, few studies have examined the relationship between stress and miRNA during pregnancy.

METHODS

In this study, we examined associations between measures of stress and depression during pregnancy with miRNA in early and late pregnancy from the MADRES cohort of primarily low-income Hispanic women based in Los Angeles, California. Extracellular-vesicle- (EV-) associated miRNA were isolated from maternal plasma and quantified using the Nanostring nCounter platform. Correlations for stress-associated miRNA were also calculated for 89 matching cord blood samples.

RESULTS

Fifty miRNA were nominally associated with depression, perceived stress, and prenatal distress (raw p < 0.05) with 17 miRNA shared between two or more stress measures. Two miRNA (miR-150-5p and miR-148b-3p) remained marginally significant after FDR adjustment (p < 0.10). Fifteen PANTHER pathways were enriched for predicted gene targets of the 50 miRNA associated with stress. Clusters of maternal and neonate miRNA expression suggest a link between maternal and child profiles.

LIMITATIONS

The study evaluated 142 miRNA and was not an exhaustive analysis of all discovered miRNA. Evaluations for stress, depression and trauma were based on self-reported instruments, rather than diagnostic tools.

CONCLUSIONS

Depression and stress during pregnancy are associated with some circulating EV miRNA. Given that EV miRNA play important roles in maternal-fetal communication, this may have downstream consequences for maternal and child health, and underscore the importance of addressing mental health during pregnancy, especially in health disparities populations.

Spatial analysis of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and toxicology using mass spectrometry imaging

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is emerging as a powerful analytical tool for detection, quantification, and simultaneous spatial molecular imaging of endogenous and exogenous molecules via in situ mass spectrometry analysis of thin tissue sections without the requirement of chemical labeling. The MSI generates chemically specific and spatially resolved ion distribution information for administered drugs and metabolites, which allows numerous applications for studies involving various stages of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET). MSI-based pharmacokinetic imaging analysis provides a histological context and cellular environment regarding dynamic drug distribution and metabolism processes, and facilitates the understanding of the spatial pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs. Herein, we discuss the MSI's current technological developments that offer qualitative, quantitative, and spatial location information of small molecule drugs, antibody, and oligonucleotides macromolecule drugs, and their metabolites in preclinical and clinical tissue specimens. We highlight the macro and micro drug-distribution in the whole-body, brain, lung, liver, kidney, stomach, intestine tissue sections, organoids, and the latest applications of MSI in pharmaceutical ADMET studies.

The actin-cytoskeleton associating protein BASP1 regulates neural progenitor localization in the neural tube

Brain acid soluble protein 1 (BASP1; previously NAP22 or CAP23) is an actin-associating protein that is highly expressed in the nervous system throughout development. While its roles at the neuromuscular junction and in certain non-neuronal tissues have been previously characterized, its function in the early neural tube is unclear. Using in ovo electroporation in the chicken (Gallus gallus) embryonic neural tube, we show that BASP1 overexpression resulted in the appearance of ectopic neural progenitor cells within the marginal zone of the neural tube. BASP1 knockdown did not affect the position of neural progenitors but did alter the complexity of axons developing from differentiated neurons. This suggests a role for BASP1 in regulating the apical polarity of progenitor cells and axon trajectories from developing neurons.