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Pérez-Carranza GA, Godínez-Rubí JM, Márquez-Rosales MG, Flores-Soto ME, Bitzer-Quintero OK, Ramírez-Anguiano AC, Ramírez-Jirano LJ. The Neuroprotective Effect of Erythropoietin on the Optic Nerve and Spinal Cord in Rats with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis through the Activation of the Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 Signaling Pathway. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:9476. [PMID: 39273423 PMCID: PMC11395492 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25179476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2024] [Revised: 08/23/2024] [Accepted: 08/30/2024] [Indexed: 09/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis is a demyelinating disease that causes paralysis in laboratory rats. This condition lacks treatment that reverses damage to the myelin sheaths of neuronal cells. Therefore, in this study, treatment with EPO as a neuroprotective effect was established to evaluate the ERK 1/2 signaling pathway and its participation in the EAE model. EPO was administered in 5000 U/Kg Sprague Dawley rats. U0126 was used as an inhibitor of the ERK 1/2 pathway to demonstrate the possible activation of this pathway in the model. Spinal cord and optic nerve tissues were evaluated using staining techniques such as H&E and the Luxol Fast Blue myelin-specific technique, as well as immunohistochemistry of the ERK 1/2 protein. The EPO-treated groups showed a decrease in cellular sampling in the spinal cord tissues but mainly in the optic nerve, as well as an increase in the expression of the ERK 1/2 protein in both tissues. The findings of this study suggest that EPO treatment reduces cellular death in EAE-induced rats by regulating the ERK pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gloria Aleida Pérez-Carranza
- Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingeniería, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara 44840, Jalisco, Mexico
| | - Juliana Marisol Godínez-Rubí
- Departamento de Morfología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara 44340, Jalisco, Mexico
- Laboratorio de Patología Diagnóstica e Inmunohistoquímica, Centro de Investigación y Diagnóstico en Patología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara 44340, Jalisco, Mexico
| | | | - Mario Eduardo Flores-Soto
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara 44340, Jalisco, Mexico
| | - Oscar Kurt Bitzer-Quintero
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara 44340, Jalisco, Mexico
| | - Ana Cristina Ramírez-Anguiano
- Centro Universitario de Ciencias Exactas e Ingeniería, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara 44840, Jalisco, Mexico
| | - Luis Javier Ramírez-Jirano
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara 44340, Jalisco, Mexico
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Álvarez-Quintero N, Kim SY. Effects of maternal age and environmental enrichment on learning ability and brain size. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae049. [PMID: 38952837 PMCID: PMC11215699 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Revised: 05/27/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024] Open
Abstract
It is well known that maternal age at reproduction affects offspring lifespan and some other fitness-related traits, but it remains understudied whether maternal senescence affects how offspring respond to their environments. Early environment often plays a significant role in the development of an animal's behavioral phenotype. For example, complex environments can promote changes in cognitive ability and brain morphology in young animals. Here, we study whether and how maternal effect senescence influences offspring plasticity in cognition, group behavior, and brain morphology in response to environmental complexity. For this, juvenile 3-spined sticklebacks from young and old mothers (i.e. 1-yr and 2-yr-old) were exposed to different levels of environmental enrichment and complexity (i.e. none, simple, and complex), and their behavior, cognitive ability, and brain size were measured. Exposing fish to enriched conditions improved individual learning ability assessed by a repeated detour-reaching task, increased the size of the whole brain, and decreased aggressive interactions in the shoal. Maternal age did not influence the inhibitory control, learning ability, and group behavioral responses of offspring to the experimental environmental change. However, maternal age affected how some brain regions of offspring changed in response to environmental complexity. In offspring from old mothers, those exposed to the complex environment had larger telencephalons and cerebellums than those who experienced simpler environments. Our results suggest that maternal effect senescence may influence how offspring invest in brain functions related to cognition in response to environmental complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Náyade Álvarez-Quintero
- Grupo de Ecoloxía Animal, Centro de Investigación Mariña, Universidade de Vigo, Fonte das Abelleiras, s/n, Vigo, 36310 Pontevedra, Spain
- Dipartimento di Biologia, Complesso Interdepartamentale A. Vallisneri, Università di Padova, Via Ugo Bassi, 58b, 35121 Padova PD, Italy
| | - Sin-Yeon Kim
- Grupo de Ecoloxía Animal, Centro de Investigación Mariña, Universidade de Vigo, Fonte das Abelleiras, s/n, Vigo, 36310 Pontevedra, Spain
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Shao S, Zhang Y, Liu J, Liu Z, Zhang X. The long-term developmental outcomes of children born to mothers with systemic lupus erythematosus at different parities. Early Hum Dev 2024; 192:106007. [PMID: 38608365 DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In recent years, China has adjusted its fertility policies to optimize the population structure by implementing the two-child and three-child policies. Some patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are considering the possibility of having a second child. The issue is whether the offspring from the second childbirth will have favorable long-term developmental outcomes. OBJECTIVE The research aims to investigate the long-term physical, neurological, and social-emotional development outcomes of children born to mothers with SLE at different parities. This study aims to offer valuable insights and references for SLE patients who are considering subsequent pregnancies and require information about potential developmental outcomes for their future children. METHODS The study conducted a follow-up of children born to SLE mothers who were admitted to the obstetrics department between January 1, 2016, and September 30, 2021. The SLE patients were categorized into two groups based on their history of live delivery: the primiparity group and the multiparity group. The physical development status, including weight, height (length), and other relevant factors, was evaluated in both groups. The Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3) was utilized to assess the neurological development in five domains, encompassing communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social. Social-emotional development was assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE). The weight, height (length), body mass index, and ASQ-3 domain scores were standardized into Z-scores to enable comparison across various ages and genders. RESULTS The study revealed that the weight Z-score and BMI Z-score of the children in the multiparity group were significantly higher compared to those in the primiparity group. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the proportions of overweight and obesity between the two groups. In terms of neurological developmental outcomes, the Z-scores of the communication and gross motor domains in the ASQ-3 assessment were significantly higher in the multiparity group compared to those in the primiparity group. The proportion of abnormal screening for social and emotional development in the children of the multiparity group was lower than that of the primiparity group, although this difference did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS The long-term weight development, communication and gross motor development of children born to SLE patients in the multiparity group were better than those in the primiparity group. However, there was no significant difference in social-emotional development between the two groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuming Shao
- Department of Pediatrics, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Yimin Zhang
- Department of Pediatrics, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Jie Liu
- Department of Pediatrics, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China
| | - Zheng Liu
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China.
| | - Xiaorui Zhang
- Department of Pediatrics, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China.
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Moloney RA, Pavy CL, Kahl RGS, Palliser HK, Hirst JJ, Shaw JC. Dual isolation of primary neurons and oligodendrocytes from guinea pig frontal cortex. Front Cell Neurosci 2024; 17:1298685. [PMID: 38269115 PMCID: PMC10806141 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1298685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Primary cell culture is a technique that is widely used in neuroscience research to investigate mechanisms that underlie pathologies at a cellular level. Typically, mouse or rat tissue is used for this process; however, altricial rodent species have markedly different neurodevelopmental trajectories comparatively to humans. The use of guinea pig brain tissue presents a novel aspect to this routinely used cell culture method whilst also allowing for dual isolation of two major cell types from a physiologically relevant animal model for studying perinatal neurodevelopment. Primary neuronal and oligodendrocyte cell cultures were derived from fetal guinea pig's frontal cortex brain tissue collected at a gestational age of 62 days (GA62), which is a key time in the neuronal and oligodendrocyte development. The major advantage of this protocol is the ability to acquire both neuronal and oligodendrocyte cellular cultures from the frontal cortex of one fetal brain. Briefly, neuronal cells were grown in 12-well plates initially in a 24-h serum-rich medium to enhance neuronal survival before switching to a serum-free media formulation. Oligodendrocytes were first grown in cell culture flasks using a serum-rich medium that enabled the growth of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) on an astrocyte bed. Following confluency, the shake method of differential adhesion and separation was utilized via horizontally shaking the OPCs off the astrocyte bed overnight. Therefore, OPCs were plated in 12-well plates and were initially expanded in media supplemented with growth hormones, before switching to maturation media to progress the lineage to a mature phenotype. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on both cell culture types to analyze key population markers, and the results were further validated using immunocytochemistry. Primary neurons displayed the mRNA expression of multiple neuronal markers, including those specific to GABAergic populations. These cells also positively stained for microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2; a dendritic marker specific to neurons) and NeuN (a marker of neuronal cell bodies). Primary oligodendrocytes expressed all investigated markers of the oligodendrocyte lineage, with a majority of the cells displaying an immature oligodendrocyte phenotype. This finding was further confirmed with positive oligodendrocyte transcription factor (OLIG2) staining, which serves as a marker for the overall oligodendrocyte population. This study demonstrates a novel method for isolating both neurons and oligodendrocytes from the guinea pig brain tissue. These isolated cells display key markers and gene expression that will allow for functional experiments to occur and may be particularly useful in studying neurodevelopmental conditions with perinatal origins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roisin A. Moloney
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Carlton L. Pavy
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Richard G. S. Kahl
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Hannah K. Palliser
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Jon J. Hirst
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
| | - Julia C. Shaw
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Mothers and Babies Research Centre, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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Yazdankhah M, Ghosh S, Liu H, Hose S, Zigler JS, Sinha D. Mitophagy in Astrocytes Is Required for the Health of Optic Nerve. Cells 2023; 12:2496. [PMID: 37887340 PMCID: PMC10605486 DOI: 10.3390/cells12202496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Revised: 10/17/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial dysfunction in astrocytes has been implicated in the development of various neurological disorders. Mitophagy, mitochondrial autophagy, is required for proper mitochondrial function by preventing the accumulation of damaged mitochondria. The importance of mitophagy, specifically in the astrocytes of the optic nerve (ON), has been little studied. We introduce an animal model in which two separate mutations act synergistically to produce severe ON degeneration. The first mutation is in Cryba1, which encodes βA3/A1-crystallin, a lens protein also expressed in astrocytes, where it regulates lysosomal pH. The second mutation is in Bckdk, which encodes branched-chain ketoacid dehydrogenase kinase, which is ubiquitously expressed in the mitochondrial matrix and involved in the catabolism of the branched-chain amino acids. BCKDK is essential for mitochondrial function and the amelioration of oxidative stress. Neither of the mutations in isolation has a significant effect on the ON, but animals homozygous for both mutations (DM) exhibit very serious ON degeneration. ON astrocytes from these double-mutant (DM) animals have lysosomal defects, including impaired mitophagy, and dysfunctional mitochondria. Urolithin A can rescue the mitophagy impairment in DM astrocytes and reduce ON degeneration. These data demonstrate that efficient mitophagy in astrocytes is required for ON health and functional integrity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meysam Yazdankhah
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (S.G.); (H.L.); (S.H.); (D.S.)
| | - Sayan Ghosh
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (S.G.); (H.L.); (S.H.); (D.S.)
| | - Haitao Liu
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (S.G.); (H.L.); (S.H.); (D.S.)
| | - Stacey Hose
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (S.G.); (H.L.); (S.H.); (D.S.)
| | - J. Samuel Zigler
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA;
| | - Debasish Sinha
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; (S.G.); (H.L.); (S.H.); (D.S.)
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA;
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Ziętek MM, Sampino S. Embryonic factors mediate the maternal age-induced programming of offspring postnatal behavior in mice†. Biol Reprod 2023; 109:45-52. [PMID: 37074135 DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioad044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Advanced maternal age is associated with adverse pregnancy and offspring outcomes, including neurodevelopmental disorders. While age-related oocyte and embryonic abnormalities may underlie this association, the aged maternal uterine environment also plays an important role in offspring development and survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of maternal age-related embryonic and uterine factors on pregnancy and offspring behavior, by using a model of reciprocal embryo transfer between old and young female mice. Pregnancies were obtained by transferring embryos collected from either old (9-14 months) or young (3-4 months) C57BL/6J female mice to either young or old recipients. The results showed that embryos from old and young donors have comparable developmental potential when transferred to young recipients, whereas no pregnancies were obtained by transferring embryos of young females to old recipients. Moreover, the offspring conceived by aged females displayed altered ultrasonic vocalization and learning skills compared to the progeny of young females, even though they were both prenatally and postnatally fostered by young recipients. These results indicate that maternal factors mostly determine the occurrence of age-related pregnancy complications, whereas the long-term effects of maternal aging on the offspring's behavior could be already established at pre-implantation stages and depend on embryonic factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Marlena Ziętek
- Department of Experimental Embryology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Poland
| | - Silvestre Sampino
- Department of Experimental Embryology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzębiec, Poland
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