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Jimo Borjigin

Publications and source records attributed to Jimo Borjigin.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Relationship between nocturnal serotonin surge and melatonin onset in rodent pineal gland.

BACKGROUND: We have recently reported dynamic circadian rhythms of serotonin (5-HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine) output in the pineal gland of rat, which precedes the onset of N-acetylserotonin (NAS) and melatonin secretion at night. The present study was aimed at investigating in detail the relationship between 5-HT onset (5HT-on) and melatonin onset (MT-on) in multiple strains of rats and comparing them with those of hamsters. METHODS: Animals were maintained in chambers equipped with light (250 lux at cage levels) and ventilation in a temperature-controlled room. Following surgical implantation of a microdialysis probe in the pineal gland, animals were individually housed for on-line pineal microdialysis and for automated HPLC analysis of 5-HT and melatonin. Animals were under a light-dark cycle of 12:12 h for the duration of the experiments. RESULTS: All animals displayed dynamic 5-HT and melatonin rhythms at night. In all cases, 5HT-on (taken at 80% of the daily maximum levels) preceded MT-on (taken at 20% of the daily maximum levels). Within the same animals, 5HT-on as well as MT-on across multiple circadian cycles exhibited minimum variations under entrained conditions. Large inter-individual variations of both 5HT-on and MT-on were found in outbred rats and hamsters under entrained conditions. In comparison, inbred rats displayed very small individual variations of 5HT-on and MT-on. Importantly, we have uncovered a species-specific relationship of 5HT-on and MT-on. 5HT-on of rats, regardless of the strain, preceded MT-on of the same rats by 50 min. In contrast, 5HT-on of hamsters led MT-on by as much as 240 min. Thus, while a constant relationship of 5HT-on and MT-on exists for animals of the same species, the relative timings of 5HT-on and MT-on differ between animals of different species. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that both 5-HT and melatonin could serve as reliable markers of the circadian clock because of their day-to-day precision of onset timings within the same animals or within individuals of the same strain or same species. The results also demonstrate that data for MT-on cannot be compared directly between different species, and that 5HT-on may be a more reliable circadian marker when data from animals of different species are compared.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

A new strain of rat for functional analysis of PINA.

Long Evans cinnamon (LEC) rat is an animal model for human Wilson disease (WD) due to a deletion in Atp7b, the copper transporter defective in WD patients. Previously, we have demonstrated presence of an alternative product termed PIneal Night-specific ATPase (PINA) generated by an intronic promoter in Atp7b gene. Analysis of LEC rat in this study demonstrates that PINA is absent in the LEC pineal establishing its usefulness for investigating PINA function. Studies of the LEC pineal, however, revealed an additional defect in serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT), the key enzyme in melatonin production. Linkage studies confirm that the NAT phenotype is entirely independent of PINA mutation in the pineal gland of LEC rats, and sequence analysis demonstrates that NAT defect is due to a point mutation in NAT coding region. In addition, we demonstrate that the cinnamon coat color of the LEC rat is unlinked to PINA and NAT deficiencies in these animals. To facilitate further functional analysis of PINA in pineal physiology, we crossed LEC rats with PVG rats that are wildtype for PINA, NAT and coat color, and obtained rats that are defective only in PINA/Atp7b locus (termed LPP rats) and normal for NAT activity and coat color. Furthermore, we have identified the deletion breakpoint of Atp7b gene in LPP rats, which allows simplified genotyping of mutant animals. The separation of PINA mutation from both NAT and coat color mutations in the new LPP rats will permit better functional studies of PINA in pineal circadian physiology.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2005

Wilson disease in septuagenarian siblings: Raising the bar for diagnosis.

Wilson Disease (WD) usually presents in the first decades of life, although rare patients have a later presentation. We report the clinical features, diagnostic evaluation, and outcome with treatment of two septuagenarian siblings evaluated as part of a research trial for treatment of neurological WD. The index case was a 72-year-old woman who suffered progressive neurological disability, then developed sub-fulminant liver failure. Her sibling was a 70-year-old man with minimal neurological symptoms and a mild depressive disorder. His liver biopsy revealed only steatosis and minimal fibrosis and an elevated hepatic copper content (671 mug/g dry weight liver). Molecular studies demonstrated compound heterozygosity for disease specific ATP7B mutations E1064A and H1069Q in both patients. Both individuals were treated with trientine and Zn followed by Zn maintenance therapy. Over the last 5 years, the clinical course stabilized and improved, although the index case recently died from bronchopneumonia. In conclusion, advanced age and different clinical presentations of these two subjects with identical ATP7B mutations raises the question of the degree of penetrance for these and other ATP7B mutations. Environmental and extragenic factors are pivotal determinants of disease phenotype. We suggest that WD must be considered at all ages in patients with hepatic disease, neurological disease, or psychiatric symptoms.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2005

A novel H28Y mutation in LEC rats leads to decreased NAT protein stability in vivo and in vitro.

Nocturnal melatonin production is reportedly controlled by the rhythms of serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT, or arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase). While analyzing the melatonin synthetic pathways of Long Evans cinnamon (LEC) rats mutant for PINA, a pineal night-specific ATPase defective in Wilson disease, we discovered that NAT activity and protein levels are greatly reduced in LEC rats, and that the highly conserved histidine 28 is mutated to tyrosine. To study the effect of H28Y, we isolated a new strain of rat termed LPN that is mutant for NAT but wildtype for both PINA and coat color. Compared with control rats, the LPN rats displayed low NAT protein levels and enzyme activities. These results suggest that the H28Y mutation in NAT is the cause of reduced NAT levels in vivo. The identical H28Y mutation was also found in Sprague-Dawley rats from Zivic-Miller, suggesting it may be a common mutation in rodents. When analyzed in bacterial cells and HEK293 cells, the mutation resulted in reduction of both NAT protein stability and catalytic activity, confirming that the in vivo NAT phenotype in LPN rats was due to the H28Y mutation. Further analysis of the NAT-H28Y will focus on the mechanisms of the increased degradation both in vitro and in vivo, which will facilitate our understanding of how melatonin synthesis is controlled at the molecular level.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2005

N-acetyltransferase is not the rate-limiting enzyme of melatonin synthesis at night.

Circadian melatonin production in the pineal gland and retina is under the control of serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT) and hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase. Because NAT activity varies diurnally, it has been considered both the melatonin rhythm-generating enzyme and the rate-limiting enzyme of melatonin synthesis. In rats with dramatically reduced NAT activity due to a H28Y mutation in NAT, melatonin levels remained the same as in wildtype controls, suggesting that NAT does not determine the rate of melatonin production at night. Using a combination of molecular approaches with a sensitive in vivo measurement of pineal diurnal melatonin production, we demonstrate that (i) N-acetylserotonin (NAS), the enzymatic product of NAT, is present in vast excess in the night pineals compared with melatonin; (ii) the continuous increase in NAT protein levels at late night does not produce a proportional increase in melatonin; and (iii) an increase in NAS in the same animal over several circadian cycles do not result in corresponding increase in melatonin output. These results strongly suggest that NAT is not the rate-limiting enzyme of melatonin formation at night.

Acetylserotonin O-Methyltransferase↗
PubMed2005

Free-running rhythms of pineal circadian output.

Circadian rhythms are self-sustaining oscillations that free-run in constant conditions with a period close to 24 h. Overt circadian rhythms have been studied mostly using onset phase as the marker for the underlying pacemaker. Using in vivo online pineal microdialysis, the authors have performed detailed analysis of free-running profiles of rat pineal secretory products, including N-acetylserotonin (NAS) and melatonin that have precisely defined onsets and offsets. When rats entrained in LD 12:12 were released into constant darkness (DD), both onset and offset phases of melatonin and NAS free-run. However, while onsets free-run with a period closer to a day (FRP(on) = 24-24.17 h) at the beginning, offset phases free-run with significantly larger FRPs (free-running periods) (FRP(off) = 24.24-24.42 h). This asymmetric free-running of onset and offset of NAS and melatonin in DD resulted in a 60- to 120-min increase of secretion duration of both NAS and melatonin. The rate of expansion of melatonin duration was 10 to 15 min per circadian cycle. The expansion of melatonin secretion duration ended for some within 4 days, while others were still expanding by the end of 10th day in DD. These results revealed that upon release into DD, the pacemaker's oscillation is initially driven by 2 forces, free running and decompression, before reaching a stable state of free running, and suggest that the circadian pacemaker may be an elastic structure that can decompress and compress under varying photic conditions. They also illustrate the importance of using both onset and offset of a given rhythm as phase markers, as compression/decompression, and transient disparity between FRP(on) and FRP(off) may be a common phenomenon of the circadian pacemaker.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Reentrainment of the circadian pacemaker through three distinct stages.

Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated by a central pacemaker and are synchronized to the environmental LD cycle. The rhythms can be resynchronized, or reentrained, after a shift of the LD cycle, as in traveling across time zones. The authors have performed high-resolution mapping of the pacemaker to analyze the reentrainment process using rat pineal melatonin onset (MT(on)) and melatonin offset (MT(off)) rhythms as markers. Following LD (12:12) delays of 3, 6, and 12 h, MT(on) was phase locked immediately, whereas MT(off) shifted rapidly during the initial 1 through 3 cycles. In all animals, the MT(off) shifted beyond their expected phase positions in the new LD cycle, which resulted in a transient expansion of melatonin secretion duration for several cycles. It took MT(off) only 1, 2, or 3 cycles to complete most of the required phase shifts after 3, 6, or 12 h of the LD cycle delays, respectively. However, the final stabilization of phase relationships of both MT(on) and MT(off) required at least 6 cycles for rats experiencing a 3-h LD delay and much longer for the rest. These results reaffirmed the notion that both onset and offset phases of melatonin rhythms are important markers for the pacemaker and demonstrated that the reentrainment of the central pacemaker to a delay shift of the LD cycle is a 3-step process: an immediate phase lock of onset and a rapid delay shift of offset rhythms, overshoot of the offset, and, finally, a slow adjustment of both onset and offset phases. This study represents the 1st detailed analysis of the pacemaker behavior during reentrainment using melatonin and supports the notion that the eventual adaptation of the circadian pacemaker to a new time zone is a time-consuming process.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Light-induced 3-O-sulfotransferase expression alters pineal heparan sulfate fine structure. A surprising link to circadian rhythm.

Proteoglycans are dominant glycoconjugates located on the cell surface and in extracellular spaces and consist of a core protein with one or more glycosaminoglycan side chains linked covalently. Heparan sulfate (HS) belongs to the family of glycosaminoglycans. HS has been assigned a variety of physiological and pathological functions, such as cell-cell adhesion, cell-matrix adhesion, cell proliferation, motility and differentiation, lipoprotein metabolism, blood coagulation, inflammation, tissue regeneration, tumor progression and invasion, pathogenic infection by bacteria, protozoa, and viruses, through specific interaction with a wide array of proteins, ligands, receptors, and pathogens (Bernfield, M., Gotte, M., Park, P. W., Reizes, O., Fitzgerald, M. L., Lincecum, J., and Zako, M. (1999) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 68, 729-777). We have shown here for the first time that light induces changes in pineal HS fine structure and that occurrence of the rare 3-O sulfation catalyzed by HS 3-O-sulfotransferase (3-OST2) is predominantly restricted to daytime pineal glands.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Diurnal pineal 3-O-sulphotransferase 2 expression controlled by beta-adrenergic repression.

The 3-O-sulfotransferases (3OSTs) catalyze the addition of sulfate groups at the 3-OH site of glucosamine in heparan sulfate proteoglycans, which serve as critical mediators of various biological functions. We demonstrate that the 3OST2 isoform is expressed at high levels in the rat pineal specifically during the daylight hours. The dramatic diurnal rhythm of 3OST2 is regulated by central clock-controlled activities of the superior cervical ganglion, persists in constant darkness, and is inducible by light at nighttime. Importantly, 3OST2 transcription is blocked by beta-adrenergic agonists that activate the pineal melatonin formation and is induced by beta-adrenergic antagonists, which block melatonin production in vivo. Because of the inverse expression and regulation patterns of 3OST2 with serotonin N-acetyltransferase, the enzyme controlling the melatonin rhythm in the pineal, we tested the effects of forced expression of 3OST2 in the night pineals on N-acetyltransferase gene expression and melatonin production and found that, surprisingly, 3OST2 expression at night fails to interfere with melatonin synthesis. These data suggest 3OST2 may serve a unique function in the pineal that may be independent of melatonin formation.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Long-term in vivo pineal microdialysis.

This study describes the development of a new technique for long-term measurement of daily 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and melatonin contents in the pineal gland of freely moving rats. The technique features a number of novel improvements over previous protocols. It allows visualization of the pineal gland for accurate targeting of the guide cannula, which minimizes bleeding; incurs no direct injury to the surrounding brain tissues; and causes no interference with the sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical ganglia. Robust releases of melatonin and indole precursors were continuously monitored quantitatively and reproducibly for more than 2 wk in the same animal. In addition, effects of pharmacological agents on in vivo pineal circadian rhythms can be studied reproducibly over time, and gene expression profiles can be correlated with physiological consequences in single animals. Using these approaches, it is found that beta-adrenergic activation leads to decreased release of 5-HT, and that increased cAMP signaling in vivo results in activation of N-acetyltransferase gene induction and melatonin production. These studies will enhance the understanding of signaling pathways that regulate pineal 5-HT and melatonin synthesis and secretion.

Adrenergic beta-Agonists↗
PubMed2002

Circadian 5-HT production regulated by adrenergic signaling.

Using on-line microdialysis, we have characterized in vivo dynamics of pineal 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) release. Daily pineal 5-HT output is triphasic: (i) 5-HT levels are constant and high during the day; (ii) early in the night, there is a novel sharp rise in 5-HT synthesis and release, which precedes the nocturnal rise in melatonin synthesis; and (iii) late in the night, levels are low. This triphasic 5-HT production persists in constant darkness and is influenced strongly by intrusion of light at night. We demonstrate that both diurnal 5-HT synthesis and 5-HT release are activated by sympathetic innervation from the superior cervical ganglion and show that these processes are controlled by distinct receptors. The increase in 5-HT synthesis is controlled by beta-adrenergic receptors, whereas the increase in 5-HT release is mediated by alpha-adrenergic signaling. On the other hand, the marked decrease in 5-HT content and release late at night is a passive process, influenced by the extent of melatonin synthesis. In the absence of melatonin synthesis, the late-night decline in 5-HT release is prevented, reaching levels roughly twice as high as that of the day value. In summary, our results demonstrate that 5-HT levels display marked circadian rhythms that depend on adrenergic signaling.

Animals↗