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Tsartsalis S, Sleven H, Fancy N, Wessely F, Smith AM, Willumsen N, Cheung TKD, Rokicki MJ, Chau V, Ifie E, Khozoie C, Ansorge O, Yang X, Jenkyns MH, Davey K, McGarry A, Muirhead RCJ, Debette S, Jackson JS, Montagne A, Owen DR, Miners JS, Love S, Webber C, Cader MZ, Matthews PM. A single nuclear transcriptomic characterisation of mechanisms responsible for impaired angiogenesis and blood-brain barrier function in Alzheimer's disease. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2243. [PMID: 38472200 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46630-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Brain perfusion and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity are reduced early in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We performed single nucleus RNA sequencing of vascular cells isolated from AD and non-diseased control brains to characterise pathological transcriptional signatures responsible for this. We show that endothelial cells (EC) are enriched for expression of genes associated with susceptibility to AD. Increased β-amyloid is associated with BBB impairment and a dysfunctional angiogenic response related to a failure of increased pro-angiogenic HIF1A to increased VEGFA signalling to EC. This is associated with vascular inflammatory activation, EC senescence and apoptosis. Our genomic dissection of vascular cell risk gene enrichment provides evidence for a role of EC pathology in AD and suggests that reducing vascular inflammatory activation and restoring effective angiogenesis could reduce vascular dysfunction contributing to the genesis or progression of early AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stergios Tsartsalis
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Hannah Sleven
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, Sherrington Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Nurun Fancy
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Frank Wessely
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Amy M Smith
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Centre for Brain Research and Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Nanet Willumsen
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - To Ka Dorcas Cheung
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Michal J Rokicki
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Vicky Chau
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Eseoghene Ifie
- Neuropathology Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Combiz Khozoie
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Olaf Ansorge
- Neuropathology Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Xin Yang
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Marion H Jenkyns
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Karen Davey
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Aisling McGarry
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Robert C J Muirhead
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Stephanie Debette
- University of Bordeaux, Inserm, Bordeaux Population Health Research Center, Team ELEANOR, UMR 1219, 33000, Bordeaux, France
| | - Johanna S Jackson
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Axel Montagne
- Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, and UK Dementia Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4SB, UK
| | - David R Owen
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - J Scott Miners
- Dementia Research Group, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Seth Love
- Dementia Research Group, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Caleb Webber
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - M Zameel Cader
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building, Sherrington Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Paul M Matthews
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- UK Dementia Research Institute Centre, Imperial College London, London, UK.
- St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
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Peña JS, Vazquez M. Harnessing the Neuroprotective Behaviors of Müller Glia for Retinal Repair. FRONT BIOSCI-LANDMRK 2022; 27:169. [PMID: 35748245 PMCID: PMC9639582 DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2706169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Progressive and irreversible vision loss in mature and aging adults creates a health and economic burden, worldwide. Despite the advancements of many contemporary therapies to restore vision, few approaches have considered the innate benefits of gliosis, the endogenous processes of retinal repair that precede vision loss. Retinal gliosis is fundamentally driven by Müller glia (MG) and is characterized by three primary cellular mechanisms: hypertrophy, proliferation, and migration. In early stages of gliosis, these processes have neuroprotective potential to halt the progression of disease and encourage synaptic activity among neurons. Later stages, however, can lead to glial scarring, which is a hallmark of disease progression and blindness. As a result, the neuroprotective abilities of MG have remained incompletely explored and poorly integrated into current treatment regimens. Bioengineering studies of the intrinsic behaviors of MG hold promise to exploit glial reparative ability, while repressing neuro-disruptive MG responses. In particular, recent in vitro systems have become primary models to analyze individual gliotic processes and provide a stepping stone for in vivo strategies. This review highlights recent studies of MG gliosis seeking to harness MG neuroprotective ability for regeneration using contemporary biotechnologies. We emphasize the importance of studying gliosis as a reparative mechanism, rather than disregarding it as an unfortunate clinical prognosis in diseased retina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan S. Peña
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, Piscataway (08854), New Jersey, USA
| | - Maribel Vazquez
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, Piscataway (08854), New Jersey, USA
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Microfluidic and Microscale Assays to Examine Regenerative Strategies in the Neuro Retina. MICROMACHINES 2020; 11:mi11121089. [PMID: 33316971 PMCID: PMC7763644 DOI: 10.3390/mi11121089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 12/03/2020] [Accepted: 12/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Bioengineering systems have transformed scientific knowledge of cellular behaviors in the nervous system (NS) and pioneered innovative, regenerative therapies to treat adult neural disorders. Microscale systems with characteristic lengths of single to hundreds of microns have examined the development and specialized behaviors of numerous neuromuscular and neurosensory components of the NS. The visual system is comprised of the eye sensory organ and its connecting pathways to the visual cortex. Significant vision loss arises from dysfunction in the retina, the photosensitive tissue at the eye posterior that achieves phototransduction of light to form images in the brain. Retinal regenerative medicine has embraced microfluidic technologies to manipulate stem-like cells for transplantation therapies, where de/differentiated cells are introduced within adult tissue to replace dysfunctional or damaged neurons. Microfluidic systems coupled with stem cell biology and biomaterials have produced exciting advances to restore vision. The current article reviews contemporary microfluidic technologies and microfluidics-enhanced bioassays, developed to interrogate cellular responses to adult retinal cues. The focus is on applications of microfluidics and microscale assays within mammalian sensory retina, or neuro retina, comprised of five types of retinal neurons (photoreceptors, horizontal, bipolar, amacrine, retinal ganglion) and one neuroglia (Müller), but excludes the non-sensory, retinal pigmented epithelium.
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