Expression of ADP-Ribosylation Factor-Like Protein 8B mRNA in the Brain Is Down-Regulated in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

The role of lysosomal membrane proteins in glucose and lipid metabolism

Lysosomes have long been regarded as the "garbage dump" of the cell. More recently, however, researchers have revealed novel roles for lysosomal membranes in autophagy, ion transport, nutrition sensing, and membrane fusion and repair. With active research into lysosomal membrane proteins (LMP), increasing evidence has become available showing that LMPs are inextricably linked to glucose and lipid metabolism, and this relationship represents mutual influence and regulation. In this review, we summarize the roles of LMPs in relation to glucose and lipid metabolism, and describe their roles in glucose transport, glycolysis, cholesterol transport, and lipophagy. The role of transport proteins can be traced back to the original discoveries of GLUT8, NPC1, and NPC2, which were all found to have significant roles in the pathways involved in glucose and lipid metabolism. CLC-5 and SIDT2-knockout animals show serious phenotypic disorders of metabolism, and V-ATPase and LAMP-2 have been found to interact with proteins related to glucose and lipid metabolism. These findings all emphasize the critical role of LMPs in glycolipid metabolism and help to strengthen our understanding of the independent and close relationship between LMPs and glycolipid metabolism.

Adipose depot-specific effects of ileal interposition surgery in UCD-T2D rats: unexpected implications for obesity and diabetes

Ileal interposition (IT) surgery delays the onset of diabetes in a rat model of type-2 diabetes (UCD-T2DM). Here, to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular events underlying the effects of IT surgery, we examined the changes in the proteome of four white adipose depots (retroperitoneal, mesenteric, inguinal, and epididymal) and plasma-free fatty acid profile in pre-diabetic rats 1.5 months following IT or sham surgery. The IT-mediated changes were exerted mainly in mesenteric fat and spanned from delayed adipocyte maturation to a neuroendocrine remodeling. Conversely, inguinal, retroperitoneal, and epididymal depots showed opposite trends consistent with increased adipocyte maturation and adipogenesis development prior to overt signs of diabetes, probably orchestrated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma signaling and higher plasma n-6/n-3 free fatty acid ratios. The resulting scenario suggests a targeted use of surgical strategies that seek to delay or improve diabetes in order to manipulate adipose depot-specific responses to maximize the duration and beneficial effects of the surgery.

Obesity-insulin targeted genes in the 3p26-25 region in human studies and LG/J and SM/J mice

Identifying metabolic syndrome (MetS) genes is important for novel drug development and health care. This study extends the findings on human chromosome 3p26-25 for an identified obesity-insulin factor QTL, with an LOD score above 3. A focused association analysis comprising up to 9578 African American and Caucasian subjects from the HyperGEN Network (908 African Americans and 1025 whites), the Family Heart Study (3035 whites in time 1 and 1943 in time 2), and the Framingham Heart Study (1317 in Offspring and 1320 in Generation 3) was performed. The homologous mouse region was explored in an F(16) generation of an advanced intercross between the LG/J and SM/J inbred strains, in an experiment where 1002 animals were fed low-fat (247 males; 254 females) or high-fat (253 males; 248 females) diets. Association results in humans indicate pleiotropic effects for SNPs within or surrounding CNTN4 on obesity, lipids and blood pressure traits and for SNPs near IL5RA, TRNT1, CRBN, and LRRN1 on central obesity and blood pressure. Linkage analyses of this region in LG/J×SM/J mice identify a highly significant pleiotropic QTL peak for insulin and glucose levels, as well as response to glucose challenge. The mouse results show that insulin and glucose levels interact with high and low fat diets and differential gene expression was identified for Crbn and Arl8b. In humans, ARL8B resides ~137kbps away from BHLHE40, expression of which shows up-regulation in response to insulin treatment. This focused human genetic analysis, incorporating mouse research evidenced that 3p26-25 has important genetic contributions to MetS components. Several of the candidate genes have functions in the brain. Their interaction with MetS and the brain warrants further investigation.

Vitrification at the pre-antral stage transiently alters inner mitochondrial membrane potential but proteome of in vitro grown and matured mouse oocytes appears unaffected

BACKGROUND

Vitrification is a fast and effective method to cryopreserve ovarian tissue, but it might influence mitochondrial activity and affect gene expression to cause persistent alterations in the proteome of oocytes that grow and mature following cryopreservation.

METHODS

In part one of the study, the inner mitochondrial membrane potential (Ψ(mit)) of JC-1 stained oocytes from control and CryoTop vitrified pre-antral follicles was analyzed by confocal microscopy at Day 0, or after culture of follicles for 1 or 12 days. In part two, proteins of in vivo grown germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes were subjected to proteome analysis by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, tryptic in-gel digestion of gel slices, and one-dimensional-nano-liquid chromatography of peptides on a multi-dimensional-nano-liquid chromatography system followed by mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and Uniprot Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. In part three, samples containing the protein amount of 40 GV and metaphase II (MII) oocytes, respectively, from control and vitrified pre-antral follicles cultured for 12 or 13 days were subjected to 2D DIGE saturation labeling and separated by isoelectric focusing and SDS gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE), followed by DeCyder(Tm) analysis of spot patterns in three independent biological replicates. Statistical and hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to compare control and vitrified groups.

RESULTS

(i) Mitochondrial inner membrane potential differs significantly between control and vitrified GV oocytes at Day 0 and Day 1, but is similar at Day 12 of culture. (ii) LC-MS/MS analysis of SDS gel fractionated protein lysates of 988 mouse GV oocytes revealed identification of 1123 different proteins with a false discovery rate of <1%. GO analysis assigned 811 proteins to the 'biological process' subset. Thirty-five percent of the proteins corresponded to metabolic processes, about 15% to mitochondrion and transport, each, and close to 8% to oxidation-reduction processes. (iii) From the 2D-saturation DIGE analysis 1891 matched spots for GV-stage and 1718 for MII oocyte proteins were detected and the related protein abundances in vitrified and control oocytes were quantified. None of the spots was significantly altered in intensity, and hierarchical cluster analysis as well as histograms of p and q values suggest that vitrification at the pre-antral stage does not significantly alter the proteome of GV or MII oocytes compared with controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Vitrification appears to be associated with a significant transient increase in Ψ(mit) in oocyte mitochondria, which disappears when oocyte/cumulus cell apposition is restored upon development to the antral stage. The nano-LC-MS/MS analysis of low numbers of oocytes is useful to obtain information on relevant biological signaling pathways based on protein identifications. For quantitative comparisons, saturation 2D DIGE analysis is superior to LC-MS/MS due to its high sensitivity in cases where the biological material is very limited. Genetic background, age of the female, and/or stimulation protocol appear to influence the proteome pattern. However, the quantitative 2D DIGE approach provides evidence that vitrification does not affect the oocyte proteome after recovery from transient loss of cell-cell interactions, in vitro growth and in vitro maturation under tested conditions. Therefore, transient changes in mitochondrial activity by vitrification do not appear causal to persistent alterations in the mitochondrial or overall oocyte proteome.

Protein expression is altered during spontaneous sleep in aged Sprague Dawley rats

Age-related changes in brain function include those affecting learning, memory, and sleep-wakefulness. Sleep-wakefulness is an essential behavior that results from the interaction of multiple brain regions, peptides, and neurotransmitters. The biological function(s) of sleep, however, remains unknown due to a paucity of information available at the cellular level. Aged rats exhibit alterations in the circadian and homeostatic influences associated with sleep-wake regulation. We recently showed that alterations in cortical profiles occur after timed bouts of spontaneous sleep in young rats. Examination of the cellular response to sleep-wake in old rats may thus provide insight(s) into the biological function(s) of sleep. To test this hypothesis, we monitored cortical profiles in the frontal cortex of young and old Sprague-Dawley rats after timed bouts of spontaneous sleep-wake behavior. Proteins were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), visualized by fluorescent staining, imaged, and analyzed as a function of behavioral state and age. Old rats showed a 6-fold increase in total protein expression, independent of the behavioral state at sacrifice. When analyzed according to age and behavioral state, there was a decrease (approximately 46%) in the number of phospho-spots present during SWS in aged animals. SWS-associated spots present only in old animals were associated with multiple functions including vesicular transport, cell signaling, oxidation state, cytoskeletal support, and energy metabolism. These data suggest that the intracellular response to the signaling associated with spontaneous sleep is affected by age and is consistent with the idea that the ability of sleep to fulfill its function(s) may become diminished with age.

Involvement of membrane protein GDE2 in retinoic acid-induced neurite formation in Neuro2A cells

We show that a glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase homolog, GDE2, is widely expressed in brain tissues including primary neurons, and that the expression of GDE2 in neuroblastoma Neuro2A cells is significantly upregulated during neuronal differentiation by retinoic acid (RA) treatment. Stable expression of GDE2 resulted in neurite formation in the absence of RA, and GDE2 accumulated at the regions of perinuclear and growth cones in Neuro2A cells. Furthermore, a loss-of-function of GDE2 in Neuro2A cells by RNAi blocked RA-induced neurite formation. These results demonstrate that GDE2 expression during neuronal differentiation plays an important role for growing neurites.