A novel molecule ‘shati’ increases dopamine uptake via the induction of tumor necrosis factor-α in pheochromocytoma-12 cells

N-Acetyl and Glutamatergic Neurometabolites in Perisylvian Brain Regions of Methamphetamine Users

Background

Methamphetamine induces neuronal N-acetyl-aspartate synthesis in preclinical studies. In a preliminary human proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging investigation, we also observed that N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate in right inferior frontal cortex correlated with years of heavy methamphetamine abuse. In the same brain region, glutamate+glutamine is lower in methamphetamine users than in controls and is negatively correlated with depression. N-acetyl and glutamatergic neurochemistries therefore merit further investigation in methamphetamine abuse and the associated mood symptoms.

Methods

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging was used to measure N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate and glutamate+glutamine in bilateral inferior frontal cortex and insula, a neighboring perisylvian region affected by methamphetamine, of 45 abstinent methamphetamine-dependent and 45 healthy control participants. Regional neurometabolite levels were tested for group differences and associations with duration of heavy methamphetamine use, depressive symptoms, and state anxiety.

Results

In right inferior frontal cortex, N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate correlated with years of heavy methamphetamine use (r = +0.45); glutamate+glutamine was lower in methamphetamine users than in controls (9.3%) and correlated negatively with depressive symptoms (r = -0.44). In left insula, N-acetyl-aspartate+N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate was 9.1% higher in methamphetamine users than controls. In right insula, glutamate+glutamine was 12.3% lower in methamphetamine users than controls and correlated negatively with depressive symptoms (r = -0.51) and state anxiety (r = -0.47).

Conclusions

The inferior frontal cortex and insula show methamphetamine-related abnormalities, consistent with prior observations of increased cortical N-acetyl-aspartate in methamphetamine-exposed animal models and associations between cortical glutamate and mood in human methamphetamine users.

Methamphetamine induces Shati/Nat8L expression in the mouse nucleus accumbens via CREB- and dopamine D1 receptor-dependent mechanism

Shati/Nat8L significantly increased in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of mice after repeated methamphetamine (METH) treatment. We reported that Shati/Nat8L overexpression in mouse NAc attenuated METH-induced hyperlocomotion, locomotor sensitization, and conditioned place preference. We recently found that Shati/Nat8L overexpression in NAc regulates the dopaminergic neuronal system via the activation of group II mGluRs by elevated N-acetylaspartylglutamate following N-acetylaspartate increase due to the overexpression. These findings suggest that Shati/Nat8L suppresses METH-induced responses. However, the mechanism by which METH increases the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression in NAc is unclear. To investigate the regulatory mechanism of Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression, we performed a mouse Shati/Nat8L luciferase assay using PC12 cells. Next, we investigated the response of METH to Shati/Nat8L expression and CREB activity using mouse brain slices of NAc, METH administration to mice, and western blotting for CREB activity of specific dopamine receptor signals in vivo and ex vivo. We found that METH activates CREB binding to the Shati/Nat8L promoter to induce the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression. Furthermore, the dopamine D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390, but not the dopamine D2 receptor antagonist sulpiride, inhibited the upregulation of Shati/Nat8L and CREB activities in the mouse NAc slices. Thus, the administration of the dopamine D1 receptor agonist SKF38393 increased the Shati/Nat8L mRNA expression in mouse NAc. These results showed that the Shati/Nat8L mRNA was increased by METH-induced CREB pathway via dopamine D1 receptor signaling in mouse NAc. These findings may contribute to development of a clinical tool for METH addiction.

Deletion of SHATI/NAT8L decreases the N-acetylaspartate content in the brain and induces behavioral deficits, which can be ameliorated by administering N-acetylaspartate

We previously identified a novel molecule "SHATI/NAT8L" that exerts an inhibitory effect on methamphetamine (METH)-induced behavioral deficits. Recently, it has been reported that SHATI might function as an aspartate N-acetyltransferase, which synthesizes N-acetylaspartate (NAA) in vitro. However, whether SHATI actually synthesizes NAA in vivo in the brain is still unclear. In this study, we found that both Shati-deleted mice showed significantly lower NAA levels in all brain areas than wild-type (Shati(+/+)) mice using HPLC and fluorescence detection, suggesting that SHATI regulates NAA content in the brain. Next, we measured the levels of monoamines and their metabolites in the adult mouse brain and found that the activities of monoaminergic systems were altered in Shati(-/-) mice. In particular, dopaminergic turnover increased in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in Shati(-/-) mice, suggesting activation of the dopaminergic system. In fact, basal level of extracellular dopamine, and METH-induced dopamine release in the NAc of Shati(-/-) mice was significantly higher than that of Shati(+/+) and Shati(+/-) mice, which is consistent with findings that Shati(-/-) mice showed enhanced hyperlocomotion induced by METH. Moreover, in the forced swimming test, Shati-deleted mice showed a shortened immobility time, which was improved by intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of NAA prior to the test in Shati(+/-) but not in Shati(-/-) mice. The i.c.v. preinjection of NAA inhibited dopamine release after high K(+) stimulation in the NAc of Shati(+/+) and Shati(+/-) mice, but not Shati(-/-) mice. These results suggested that the behavioral deficits in Shati-deleted mice were caused by dopaminergic abnormality via deprivation of NAA.

Deletion of SHATI/NAT8L increases dopamine D1 receptor on the cell surface in the nucleus accumbens, accelerating methamphetamine dependence

In a previous report, we identified a novel molecule, SHATI/NAT8L, having an inhibitory effect on methamphetamine (METH)-induced hyperlocomotion, sensitization, and conditioned place preference (CPP). SHATI/NAT8L attenuates the METH-induced increase in dopamine overflow in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) by promoting plasmalemmal and vesicular dopamine uptake. However, the biological functions of the protein remain unclear. In this study, we explored NAT8L-binding proteins using pull-down assays and identified a number of components of the adaptor protein (AP)-2 complex, which is a multimeric protein localized to the plasma membrane that functions to internalize cargo during clathrin-mediated endocytosis. To investigate whether NAT8L regulates the receptor localization to the cell surface, cell-surface dopamine D1 receptor in the NAc of Nat8l knockout (KO) mice was quantified. We found that dopamine D1 receptor on the cell surface was increased in the NAc of Nat8l KO mice compared with the wild type (WT) animals. Consistent with this finding, Nat8l KO mice showed higher basal locomotor activity and heightened sensitivity to D1 agonist compared with WT mice. In addition, METH-induced sensitization and CPP were enhanced in Nat8l KO mice. These results suggest that NAT8L might regulate the localization of cell-surface dopamine D1 receptor, thereby controlling basal behaviour and sensitivity to METH. Furthermore, we observed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the human NAT8L gene related to reward dependence, a personality trait, and grey matter volume in the caudate nucleus in healthy subjects, suggesting that NAT8L might also affect human personality.

Affective symptoms are associated with markers of inflammation and immune activation in bipolar disorders but not in schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE

Elevated levels of inflammation are reported in bipolar disorders (BP), but how this relates to affective symptoms is unclear. We aimed to determine if immune markers that consistently have been reported elevated in BP were associated with depressive and manic symptoms, and if this was specific for BP.

METHODS

From a catchment area, 112 BP patients were included together with 153 schizophrenia (SCZ) patients and 239 healthy controls. Depression and mania were assessed and the patients were grouped into depressed, neutral, and elevated mood. We measured the immune markers tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1), interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), interleukin 6 (IL-6), high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), osteoprotegerin (OPG) and von Willebrand factor (vWf) which have been found increased in severe mental disorders.

RESULTS

In BP all inflammatory markers were lowest in depressed state, with significant group differences after control for confounders with respect to TNF-R1 (p = 0.04), IL-1Ra (p = 0.02), OPG (p = 0.004) and IL-6 (p = 0.005). STNF-R1 was positively correlated with the item elevated mood (p = 0.02) whereas sad mood was negatively correlated with OPG (p = 0.0003), IL-1Ra (p = 0.001) and IL-6 (p = 0.006). Compared to controls the neutral mood group had significantly higher levels of OPG (p = 0.0003) and IL-6 (p = 0.005), and the elevated mood group had higher levels of TNF-R1 (p = 0.000005) and vWf (p = 0.002). There were no significant associations between affective states orsymptoms in SCZ.

CONCLUSIONS

The current associations between inflammatory markers and affective symptomatology in BP and not SCZ suggest that immune related mechanisms are associated with core psychopathology of BP.

Roles of a novel molecule 'shati' in the development of methamphetamine-induced dependence

The ability of drugs of abuse to cause dependence can be viewed as a form of neural plasticity. Recently, we have demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) increases dopamine uptake and inhibits methamphetamine-induced dependence. Moreover, we have identified a novel molecule ‘shati’ in the nucleus accumbens of mice treated with methamphetamine using the PCR-select cDNA subtraction method and clarified that it is involved in the development of methamphetamine dependence: Treatment with the shati antisense oligonucleotide (shati-AS), which inhibits the expression of shati mRNA, enhanced the methamphetamine-induced hyperlocomotion, sensitization, and conditioned place preference. Further, blockage of shati mRNA by shati-AS potentiated the methamphetamine-induced increase of dopamine overflow and the methamphetamine-induced decrease in dopamine uptake in the nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, treatment with shati-AS also inhibited expression of TNF-α. Transfection of the vector containing shati cDNA into PC12 cells, dramatically induced the expression of shati and TNF-α mRNA, accelerated dopamine uptake, and inhibited the methamphetamine-induced decrease in dopamine uptake. These effects were blocked by neutralizing TNF-α. These results suggest that the functional roles of shati in methamphetamine-induced behavioral changes are mediated through the induction of TNF-α expression which inhibits the methamphetamine-induced increase of dopamine overflow and decrease in dopamine uptake.

Methamphetamine-induced neuronal protein NAT8L is the NAA biosynthetic enzyme: implications for specialized acetyl coenzyme A metabolism in the CNS

N-acetylaspartate (NAA) is a concentrated, neuron-specific brain metabolite routinely used as a magnetic resonance spectroscopy marker for brain injury and disease. Despite decades of research, the functional roles of NAA remain unclear. Biochemical investigations over several decades have associated NAA with myelin lipid synthesis and energy metabolism. However, studies have been hampered by an inability to identify the gene for the NAA biosynthetic enzyme aspartate N-acetyltransferase (Asp-NAT). A very recent report has identified Nat8l as the gene encoding Asp-NAT and confirmed that the only child diagnosed with a lack of NAA on brain magnetic resonance spectrograms has a 19-bp deletion in this gene. Based on in vitro Nat8l expression studies the researchers concluded that many previous biochemical investigations have been technically flawed and that NAA may not be associated with brain energy or lipid metabolism. In studies done concurrently in our laboratory we have demonstrated via cloning, expression, specificity for acetylation of aspartate, responsiveness to methamphetamine treatment, molecular modeling and comparative immunolocalization that NAT8L is the NAA biosynthetic enzyme Asp-NAT. We conclude that NAA is a major storage and transport form of acetyl coenzyme A specific to the nervous system, thus linking it to both lipid synthesis and energy metabolism.

Molecular identification of aspartate N-acetyltransferase and its mutation in hypoacetylaspartia

The brain-specific compound NAA (N-acetylaspartate) occurs almost exclusively in neurons, where its concentration reaches approx. 20 mM. Its abundance is determined in patients by MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) to assess neuronal density and health. The molecular identity of the NAT (N-acetyltransferase) that catalyses NAA synthesis has remained unknown, because the enzyme is membrane-bound and difficult to purify. Database searches indicated that among putative NATs (i.e. proteins homologous with known NATs, but with uncharacterized catalytic activity) encoded by the human and mouse genomes two were almost exclusively expressed in brain, NAT8L and NAT14. Transfection studies in HEK-293T [human embryonic kidney-293 cells expressing the large T-antigen of SV40 (simian virus 40)] indicated that NAT8L, but not NAT14, catalysed the synthesis of NAA from L-aspartate and acetyl-CoA. The specificity of NAT8L, its Km for aspartate and its sensitivity to detergents are similar to those described for brain Asp-NAT. Confocal microscopy analysis of CHO (Chinese-hamster ovary) cells and neurons expressing recombinant NAT8L indicates that it is associated with the ER (endoplasmic reticulum), but not with mitochondria. A mutation search in the NAT8L gene of the only patient known to be deficient in NAA disclosed the presence of a homozygous 19 bp deletion, resulting in a change in reading frame and the absence of production of a functional protein. We conclude that NAT8L, a neuron-specific protein, is responsible for NAA synthesis and is mutated in primary NAA deficiency (hypoacetylaspartia). The molecular identification of this enzyme will lead to new perspectives in the clarification of the function of this most abundant amino acid derivative in neurons and for the diagnosis of hypoacetylaspartia in other patients.