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Effects of aging on p- and m-octopamine, catecholamines, and their metabolizing enzymes in the rat.

Functions of octopamine in the mammalian brain are still not well known. An important aspect of this problem is the relationship between octopamines and catecholamines. Previous data have shown that their respective ontogenic evolutions are not parallel. Do the changes in brain related to aging also differentially affect these two groups of molecules? In order to check this point, the brain levels of p- and m-octopamine, p-tyramine, noradrenaline, and dopamine, as well as the activities of metabolizing enzymes, were determined in young adult and aging rats (20-26 months). Unlike catecholamines, there is a drastic decrease of p-octopamine after 20 months of age in the hypothalamus and telencephalon. p-Tyramine levels are also lowered. This change appears to be due to a decrease of the aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase activity. These data, as those of ontogenic studies, confirm that p-octopamine and catecholamine metabolisms may have some independent steps and, moreover, that p-octopamine may have a role in the normal activity of the brain.

2-Hydroxyphenethylamine↗

Cell inward transport of L-DOPA and 3-O-methyl-L-DOPA in rat renal tubules.

1. The present study has determined the kinetics of the uptake of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) and 3-O-methyl-L-DOPA (3-OMDOPA) in rat renal tubules and examined the effect of 3-OMDOPA on the inward transport of L-DOPA and on its conversion into dopamine in kidney homogenates. 2. The accumulation of both L-DOPA and 3-OMDOPA in renal tubules was found to occur through non-saturable and saturable mechanisms. The kinetics of the saturable component of L-DOPA and 3-OMDOPA uptake in renal tubules were as follows: L-DOPA, Vmax = 11.1 nmol mg-1 protein h-1 and Km = 216 microM (n = 6); 3-OMDOPA, Vmax = 8.1 nmol mg-1 protein h-1 and Km = 231 microM (n = 5). The diffusion constant of the non-saturable component for the accumulation of L-DOPA and 3-OMDOPA was 0.0010 and 0.0014 mumol-1, respectively. 3. 3-OMDOPA (100 to 2000 microM) was found to produce a concentration-dependent decrease (29% to 81% reduction) of the saturable component of the tubular uptake of L-DOPA; the Ki value of 3-OMDOPA for inhibition of L-DOPA uptake was found to be 181 microM (n = 5). The accumulation of L-DOPA obtained in experiments conducted at 4 degrees C was not affected by 3-OMDOPA. 4. In experiments conducted in kidney homogenates only L-DOPA (10 to 5000 microM) was found to be decarboxylated. The Vmax and Km values for aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase determined in the absence of 3-OMDOPA (Vmax = 14.1 nmol mg-1 protein h-1; Km =62 MicroM) were not significantly different from those observed when the decarboxylation of L-DOPA was carried out in the presence of 1000 MicroM 3-OMDOPA (Vmax = 15.7 nmol mg-1 protein h-1; Km = 68 MicroM).5. It is concluded that the tubular uptake of both L-DOPA and 3-OMDOPA occur through nonsaturable and saturable mechanisms; only the saturable tubular uptake of L-DOPA was found to be inhibited by 3-OMDOPA. It is further shown that 3-OMDOPA neither undergoes decarboxylation into 3-MT nor affects the decarboxylation of L-DOPA.

Animals↗

Antibodies to SOX13 (ICA12) are associated with type 1 diabetes.

SOX13 is an islet cell autoantigen (ICA12), identified by antibody screening of an islet cDNA library, using sera from patients with Type 1 diabetes. We ascertained the frequency of antibody reactivity to SOX13 and compared it with other Type 1 diabetes autoantibody reactivities. Antibodies were measured by radioimmunoprecipitation (RIP) using (35) S labelled SOX13 expressed in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Sera from 109 subjects with Type 1 diabetes, 29 with Type 2 diabetes, 144 with other autoimmune diseases and from 201 controls were tested for anti-SOX13, and results were compared with the frequency of antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD), islet cell antigen 512 (anti-ICA512) and islet cell cytoplasm (ICA). Anti-SOX13 were detected in 20 (18.3%) of 109 subjects with Type 1 diabetes, and more frequently in adults than in children (29% vs 10%). Anti-SOX13 usually occurred with anti-GAD but rarely with anti-ICA512. Seven sera positive for anti-SOX13 did not react with either GAD, ICA512 or islet cell cytoplasm indicating that anti-SOX13 represented a distinct population of antibodies. Reactivity to SOX13 represents a further autoantibody response in adults with Type 1 diabetes and may provide a useful disease marker in subjects in whom other autoantibody tests are negative.

Adolescent↗

An animal model for Huntington's disease.

In review is concerned with research done on an animal model for the hereditary neuropsychiatric disorder, Huntington's disease (HD). The neuropathology of HD involves primarily a selective degeneration of neurons with cell bodies in the striatum. Injection of kainic acid, a potent neuroexcitant structurally related to glutamic acid, into the rat striatum causes a selective neuronal degeneration resembling that of HD. Striatal cholinergic and GABAergic neurons, including their terminal projections in the substantia nigra, are affected by kainate; dopaminergic axons innervating the striatum as well as corticofugal fibers passing through the region are spared. The striatal kainate lesion has aided in the characterization of the neuronal circuitry in the nigrostriatal axis including the neuronal localization of dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase, neuroleptic binding sites, and GABA receptors. Studies in vivo and in vitro with kainate and its analogues suggest that the potent neurotoxicity of kainate involves a cooperative interaction between synaptically released glutamate and injected kainate on vulnerable neurons; prior destruction of cortico-striatal glutamatergic afferents attenuates kainate's neurotoxicity. The kainate model has been used to test drugs that may be of therapeutic benefit for HD. A better understanding of the mechanism of neurotoxicity of kainate may shed light on the cause of neuronal degeneration in HD.

Animals↗

Short-term inhibitory effect of estradiol on tyrosine hydroxylase activity in tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons in vitro.

The short-term inhibition by estradiol of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons was examined in vitro on hypothalamic slices from ovariectomized rats. TH activity (determined by L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine accumulation in the median eminence after blockade of decarboxylase with NSD 1055) showed a 30-40% decrease within 1 h of incubation with estradiol. To determine whether a dephosphorylation process was involved in this decline in TH activity, we studied the sensitivity of the enzyme to dopamine (DA) feedback inhibition: In controls, we observed that two kinetically different forms of TH coexisted, with one exhibiting a Ki(DA) of 26.4 +/- 2 microM and the other being approximately 10-fold more sensitive to DA inhibition, with a Ki(DA) of 2.56 +/- 0.17 microM, likely corresponding to a phosphorylated and active form and to a nonphosphorylated and poorly active form, respectively. Conversely, after estradiol treatment all TH molecules exhibited the same Ki(DA) of 2.5 +/- 0.3 microM. This effect was stereospecific, because 17 alpha-estradiol could not promote it, whereas with 17 beta-estradiol, it could be observed at only 10(-11) M and after a short delay (30 min). Finally, this decrease in the Ki(DA) of the purported active form of TH could be prevented by okadaic acid (an inhibitor of protein phosphatases). These results suggest that estradiol can act directly on the mediobasal hypothalamus to trigger a rapid decline in TH activity and that this action may involve a decrease in TH phosphorylation.

Animals↗

[Dopamine and hypertension].

Dopamine has been well recognized to be a precursor of norepinephrine, exhibiting cardiovascular effects through alpha-adrenoceptor stimulation by norepinephrine production and release in sympathetic nerve endings. It also has the specific and unique effects of natriuresis and vasodilation. Since dopamine is one of the important endogenous hypotensive and natriuretic substances, it is speculated that impaired dopamine generation and/or the disturbance of the effects of dopamine could cause hypertension with suppression of plasma renin activity and/or salt-sensitivity. A non-specific enzyme of aromatic L-amine acid decarboxylase (AAAD) converting from 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) to dopamine is widely distributed in the peripheral tissue, e.g. the sympatho-adrenomedullary system, the small intestine, the lung, the liver, the kidney, etc. Since tyrosine hydroxylase is a rate-limiting enzyme of catecholamine biosynthesis, DOPA generation in the neuronal tissues is accelerated with the sympathetic nerve activation by stress such as emotional and environmental changes, resulting in an increase of DOPA delivery to the non-neuronal tissues containing non-neuronal AAAD. More than five receptors for dopamine are cloned in the brain, and it is suggested that more than three different types of dopamine receptors are in the peripheral tissues. In spontaneously hypertensive rats, the post-receptor defect of renal dopamine D1-receptor has been proposed where peripheral dopamine generation compensatorily increased. In Dahl salt-sensitive rats, another model of genetic hypertension, the blunted response of urinary dopamine to sodium loading has been demonstrated. It is controversial whether abnormalities of the neuronal and/or non-neuronal (particularly renal) dopamine system play a contributory role on the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. However, it is plausible that the impairment of dopamine generation and/or the defective responses of a dopamine receptor might induce sodium retention and hypertension.

Animals↗

Visualization of local afferent inputs to magnocellular oxytocin neurons in vitro.

We recently showed that oxytocin (OT) neurons in organotypic slice cultures obtained from postnatal rat hypothalamus display complex patterns of electrical activity, similar to those of adult magnocellular OT neurons in vivo. Here we used such cultures to investigate the identity and, in particular, the origin of afferent inputs responsible for this activity. Multiple immunostaining with light and confocal microscopy showed that the somata and dendrites of oxytocinergic neurons were contacted by numerous synapses, visualized by their reaction to the synaptic markers, synaptophysin or synapsin. Many were GABAergic, displaying immunoreactivities for glutamic acid decarboxylase or gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA); others were enriched in glutamate immunoreactivity. Such afferents presumably arose from GABA- or glutamate-immunoreactive neurons, respectively, with distinct and characteristic morphologies and topographies. A few dopaminergic boutons (tyrosine hydroxylase- or dopamine-immunopositive) impinged on OT neurons; they arose from dopamine-positive neurons located along the third ventricle. No noradrenergic profiles were detected. Despite the presence of choline acetyl-transferase (ChAT)-immunoreactive neurons, there were no cholinergic contacts. Lastly, we found oxytocinergic synapses, identified by immunoreaction for OT-related neurophysin and synapsin, contacting OT somata and dendrites. Our observations thus demonstrate that inhibitory and excitatory inputs to OT neurons derive from local intrahypothalamic GABA and glutamate neurons, in close proximity to the neurons. They also reveal that OT neurons are innervated by hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons. Finally, they confirm the existence of homotypic OT synaptic contacts which derive from local OT neurons.

Acetylcholinesterase↗

Association between rotavirus infection and pancreatic islet autoimmunity in children at risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Pancreatic islet autoimmunity leading to type 1 diabetes could be triggered by viruses in genetically susceptible individuals. Rotavirus (RV), the most common cause of childhood gastroenteritis, contains peptide sequences highly similar to T-cell epitopes in the islet autoantigens GAD and tyrosine phosphatase IA-2 (IA-2), suggesting T-cells to RV could trigger islet autoimmunity by molecular mimicry. We therefore sought an association between RV infection and islet autoantibody markers in children at risk for diabetes who were followed from birth. There was a specific and highly significant association between RV seroconversion and increases in any of these antibodies: 86% of antibodies to IA-2, 62% to insulin, and 50% to GAD first appeared or increased with increases in RV IgG or IgA. RV infection may therefore trigger or exacerbate islet autoimmunity in genetically susceptible children.

Antigens, Viral↗

Activation of the MAP kinase pathway by FGF-1 correlates with cell proliferation induction while activation of the Src pathway correlates with migration.

FGF regulates both cell migration and proliferation by receptor-dependent induction of immediate-early gene expression and tyrosine phosphorylation of intracellular polypeptides. Because little is known about the disparate nature of intracellular signaling pathways, which are able to discriminate between cell migration and proliferation, we used a washout strategy to examine the relationship between immediate-early gene expression and tyrosine phosphorylation with respect to the potential of cells either to migrate or to initiate DNA synthesis in response to FGF-1. We demonstrate that transient exposure to FGF-1 results in a significant decrease in Fos transcript expression and a decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation of the FGFR-1, p42(mapk), and p44(mapk). Consistent with these biochemical effects, we demonstrate that attenuation in the level of DNA synthesis such that a 1.5-h withdrawal is sufficient to return the population to a state similar to quiescence. In contrast, the level of Myc mRNA, the activity of Src, the tyrosine phosphorylation of cortactin, and the FGF-1-induced redistribution of cortactin and F-actin were unaffected by transient FGF-1 stimulation. These biochemical responses are consistent with an implied uncompromised migratory potential of the cells in response to growth factor withdrawal. These results suggest a correlation between Fos expression and the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway with initiation of DNA synthesis and a correlation between high levels of Myc mRNA and Src kinase activity with the regulation of cell migration.

3T3 Cells↗

Inhibition of L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase by polychlorinated biphenyls.

PC12 cells were used to examine the mechanisms by which polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) reduce cellular levels of dopamine (DA). In cells treated 3 days with Aroclor 1254, 2,2',5,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (2,2',5,5'-TCB), or 2,2',3,3',4,4'-hexachlorobiphenyl (2,2',3,3',4,4'-HCB), the PCB-mediated reduction in 3H-tyrosine uptake was observed only at high PCB concentrations that produced a reduction in DNA levels. The PCB congener, 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (2,2',4,4',5,5'-HCB) did not produce a reduction in 3H-tyrosine uptake at any concentration tested. Thus, there were PCB concentrations at which a reduction in DA levels did not coincide with a decrease in 3H-tyrosine uptake, suggesting that inhibition of tyrosine uptake was not the primary mechanism by which PCBs reduce DA levels. Aroclor 1254-treated cells also exhibited elevated levels of DOPA, further supporting the conclusion that tyrosine levels were not limiting. Incubation of Aroclor 1254-pretreated cells with 3H-tyrosine resulted in a dose-dependent increase in cellular levels of 3H-DOPA and decrease in cellular levels of 3H-DA, suggesting a PCB-mediated inhibition of the conversion of 3H-DOPA to 3H-DA. When the media was supplemented with DOPA, Aroclor 1254-treated cells still exhibited reduced levels of DA, compared to control cells, even though the control and PCB-treated cells had similar cellular levels of DOPA. Thus, one mechanism by which PCBs may reduce cellular levels of DA is by inhibiting L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase-mediated conversion of DOPA to DA. The PCB congeners, 2,2',4,4'-TCB, 2,2',5,5'-TCB, and 2,2',4,4',5,5'-HCB, also produced dose-dependent increases in DOPA levels. The congener 2,2',3,3',4,4'-HCB did not produce an increase in DOPA levels, although it did mediate reductions in cellular DA levels. However, when PC12 cells were supplemented with DOPA, all four PCB congeners produced a similar reduction in DA levels, suggesting that the conversion of DOPA to DA was inhibited by the PCBs.

Amino Acids↗

Differential expression of GABA(B)R1 and GABA(B)R2 receptor immunoreactivity in neurochemically identified neurons of the rat neostriatum.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the neostriatum. Functions of GABA are known to mediate GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors. A functional GABA(B) receptor is known to compose of heteromeric subunits, namely the GABA(B)R1 and GABA(B)R2 subunits. Our previous report (Yung et al. [1999] Brain Res. 830:345-352) has demonstrated that all major subpopulations of striatal neurons express GABA(B)R1 immunoreactivity. The cellular localization of the second subunit of GABA(B) receptor protein, i.e., GABA(B)R2 immunoreactivity, in the rat neostriatum is not yet known. By using a new commercially available specific antibody against GABA(B)R2, immunofluorescence was performed to investigate the cellular expression of GABA(B)R2 in neurochemically identified subpopulations of neurons in the rat neostriatum. Immunoreactivity for GABA(B)R2 was primarily found in the neuropil of the rat neostriatum. Double labeling revealed that those perikarya that expressed immunoreactivity for parvalbumin, choline acetyltransferase, nitric oxide synthase, glutamate receptor two, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor one, or GABA(A)alpha1 receptor, respectively, did not express GABA(B)R2 immunoreactivity. In addition, perikarya and most of the neuropilar elements in the neostriatum that expressed glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 immunoreactivity were found to be GABA(B)R2-negative. In contrast, immunoreactivity for GABA(B)R1 was found to be expressed by all of the above neuronal subpopulations. Moreover, a vast number of SV2-immunoreactive profiles and a number of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive profiles in the neuropil of the neostriatum were found to display GABA(B)R2 immunoreactivity. The present results indicate that there is a differential expression of GABA(B)R2 and GABA(B)R1 immunoreactivity in different subpopulations of striatal neurons that are identified by their specific neurochemical markers. Immunoreactivity for GABA(B)R2 is likely to localize in neuropilar elements of the neostriatum that may belong to non-GABAergic elements. These findings provide anatomical evidence of GABA(B)R2 receptor localization in the neostriatum that may have an important functional implication of the GABA(B)-mediated functions in neurons of the neostriatum.

Animals↗