Pyruvate enhances oral tolerance via GPR31

Rural and urban exposures shape early life immune development in South African children with atopic dermatitis and nonallergic children

BACKGROUND

Immunological traits and functions have been consistently associated with environmental exposures and are thought to shape allergic disease susceptibility and protection. In particular, specific exposures in early life may have more significant effects on the developing immune system, with potentially long-term impacts.

METHODS

We performed RNA-Seq on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 150 children with atopic dermatitis and healthy nonallergic children in rural and urban settings from the same ethnolinguistic AmaXhosa background in South Africa. We measured environmental exposures using questionnaires.

RESULTS

A distinct PBMC gene expression pattern was observed in those children with atopic dermatitis (132 differentially expressed genes [DEGs]). However, the predominant influences on the immune cell transcriptome were related to early life exposures including animals, time outdoors, and types of cooking and heating fuels. Sample clustering revealed two rural groups (Rural_1 and Rural_2) that separated from the urban group (3413 and 2647 DEGs, respectively). The most significantly regulated pathways in Rural_1 children were related to innate activation of the immune system (e.g., TLR and cytokine signaling), changes in lymphocyte polarization (e.g., TH17 cells), and immune cell metabolism (i.e., oxidative phosphorylation). The Rural_2 group displayed evidence for ongoing lymphocyte activation (e.g., T cell receptor signaling), with changes in immune cell survival and proliferation (e.g., mTOR signaling, insulin signaling).

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of the exposome on immune development in early life and identifies potentially protective (e.g., animal) exposures and potentially detrimental (e.g., pollutant) exposures that impact key immunological pathways.

Novel Approaches to the Establishment of Local Microenvironment from Resorbable Biomaterials in the Brain In Vitro Models

The development of brain in vitro models requires the application of novel biocompatible materials and biopolymers as scaffolds for controllable and effective cell growth and functioning. The "ideal" brain in vitro model should demonstrate the principal features of brain plasticity like synaptic transmission and remodeling, neurogenesis and angiogenesis, and changes in the metabolism associated with the establishment of new intercellular connections. Therefore, the extracellular scaffolds that are helpful in the establishment and maintenance of local microenvironments supporting brain plasticity mechanisms are of critical importance. In this review, we will focus on some carbohydrate metabolites-lactate, pyruvate, oxaloacetate, malate-that greatly contribute to the regulation of cell-to-cell communications and metabolic plasticity of brain cells and on some resorbable biopolymers that may reproduce the local microenvironment enriched in particular cell metabolites.

Acidosis-related pain and its receptors as targets for chronic pain

Sensing acidosis is an important somatosensory function in responses to ischemia, inflammation, and metabolic alteration. Accumulating evidence has shown that acidosis is an effective factor for pain induction and that many intractable chronic pain diseases are associated with acidosis signaling. Various receptors have been known to detect extracellular acidosis and all express in the somatosensory neurons, such as acid sensing ion channels (ASIC), transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and proton-sensing G-protein coupled receptors. In addition to sense noxious acidic stimulation, these proton-sensing receptors also play a vital role in pain processing. For example, ASICs and TRPs are involved in not only nociceptive activation but also anti-nociceptive effects as well as some other non-nociceptive pathways. Herein, we review recent progress in probing the roles of proton-sensing receptors in preclinical pain research and their clinical relevance. We also propose a new concept of sngception to address the specific somatosensory function of acid sensation. This review aims to connect these acid-sensing receptors with basic pain research and clinical pain diseases, thus helping with better understanding the acid-related pain pathogenesis and their potential therapeutic roles via the mechanism of acid-mediated antinociception.