Nicotinic α‐7 acetylcholine receptor (nAChRα7) is a critical regulator of cholinergic anti‐inflammatory actions in several diseases, including acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS). Given the ...potential importance of α7nAChR as a therapeutic target, we evaluated whether PNU‐282987, an α7nAChR agonist, is effective in protecting the lung against inflammation. We performed intratracheal instillation of LPS to generate acute lung injury (ALI) in C57BL/6 mice. PNU‐282987 treatment, either before or after ALI induction, reduced neutrophil recruitment and IL‐ 1β, TNF‐α, IL‐6, keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC), and IL‐10 cytokine levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (P> 0.05). In addition, lung NF‐κB phosphorylation decreased, along with collagen fiber deposition and the number of matrix metalloproteinase‐9+ and −2+ cells, whereas the number of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase‐1+ cells increased (P < 0.05). PNU‐282987 treatment also reduced lung mRNA levels and the frequency of M1 macrophages, whereas cells expressing the M2‐related markers CD206 and IL‐10 increased, suggesting changes in the macrophage profile. Finally, PNU‐282987 improved lung function in LPS‐treated animals. The collective results suggest that PNU‐282987, anagonist of α7nAChR, reducesLPS‐induced experimental ALI, thus supporting the notion that drugs that act on α7nAChRs should be explored for ARDS treatment in humans.—Pinheiro, N. M., Santana, F. P. R., Almeida, R. R., Guerreiro, M., Martins, M.A., Caperuto, L.C., Câmara, N.O.S., Wensing, L.A., Prado, V. F., Tibério, I. F. L. C., Prado, M.A.M., Prado, C. M. Acute lung injury is reduced by the α7nAChR agonist PNU‐282987 through changes in the macrophage profile. FASEB J. 31, 320–332 (2017) www.fasebj.org
Summary Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is assuming a prominent role as a risk factor because of the double metabolic burden derived from low muscle mass (sarcopenia) and excess adiposity (obesity). The ...increase in obesity prevalence rates in older subjects is of concern given the associated disease risks and more limited therapeutic options available in this age group. This review has two main objectives. The primary objective is to collate results from studies investigating the effects of SO on physical and cardio-metabolic functions. The secondary objective is to evaluate published studies for consistency in methodology, diagnostic criteria, exposure and outcome selection. Large between-study heterogeneity was observed in the application of diagnostic criteria and choice of body composition components for the assessment of SO, which contributes to the inconsistent associations of SO with cardio-metabolic outcomes. We propose a metabolic load:capacity model of SO given by the ratio between fat mass and fat free mass, and discuss how this could be operationalised. The concept of regional fat distribution could be incorporated into the model and tested in future studies to advance our understanding of SO as a predictor of risk for cardio-metabolic diseases and physical disability.
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an important neuromodulator in the nervous system implicated in many forms of cognitive and motor processing. Recent studies have used bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) ...transgenic mice expressing channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) protein under the control of the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) promoter (ChAT-ChR2-EYFP) to dissect cholinergic circuit connectivity and function using optogenetic approaches. We report that a mouse line used for this purpose also carries several copies of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter gene (VAChT), which leads to overexpression of functional VAChT and consequently increased cholinergic tone. We demonstrate that these mice have marked improvement in motor endurance. However, they also present severe cognitive deficits, including attention deficits and dysfunction in working memory and spatial memory. These results suggest that increased VAChT expression may disrupt critical steps in information processing. Our studies demonstrate that ChAT-ChR2-EYFP mice show altered cholinergic tone that fundamentally differentiates them from wild-type mice.
Acetylcholine (ACh), the neurotransmitter of the cholinergic system, regulates inflammation in several diseases including pulmonary diseases. ACh is also involved in a non-neuronal mechanism that ...modulates the innate immune response. Because inflammation and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in pulmonary emphysema, we hypothesized that vesicular acetylcholine transport protein (VAChT) deficiency, which leads to reduction in ACh release, can modulate lung inflammation in an experimental model of emphysema. Mice with genetical reduced expression of VAChT (VAChT KD
70%) and wild-type mice (WT) received nasal instillation of 50 uL of porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) or saline on day 0. Twenty-eight days after, animals were evaluated. Elastase instilled VAChT KD
mice presented an increase in macrophages, lymphocytes, and neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and MAC2-positive macrophages in lung tissue and peribronchovascular area that was comparable to that observed in WT mice. Conversely, elastase instilled VAChT KD
mice showed significantly larger number of NF-κB-positive cells and isoprostane staining in the peribronchovascular area when compared to elastase-instilled WT-mice. Moreover, elastase-instilled VAChT-deficient mice showed increased MCP-1 levels in the lungs. Other cytokines, extracellular matrix remodeling, alveolar enlargement, and lung function were not worse in elastase-instilled VAChT deficiency than in elastase-instilled WT-controls. These data suggest that decreased VAChT expression may contribute to the pathogenesis of emphysema, at least in part, through NF-κB activation, MCP-1, and oxidative stress pathways. This study highlights novel pathways involved in lung inflammation that may contribute to the development of chronic obstrutive lung disease (COPD) in cholinergic deficient individuals such as Alzheimer's disease patients.
Tonically active cholinergic interneurons (TANs) from the nucleus accumbens (NAc) are centrally involved in reward behavior. TANs express a vesicular glutamate transporter referred to as VGLUT3 and ...thus use both acetylcholine and glutamate as neurotransmitters. The respective roles of each transmitter in the regulation of reward and addiction are still unknown. In this study, we showed that disruption of the gene that encodes VGLUT3 (Slc17a8) markedly increased cocaine self-administration in mice. Concomitantly, the amount of dopamine (DA) release was strongly augmented in the NAc of VGLUT3(-/-) mice because of a lack of signaling by metabotropic glutamate receptors. Furthermore, dendritic spines and glutamatergic synaptic transmission on medium spiny neurons were increased in the NAc of VGLUT3(-/-) mice. Increased DA and glutamate signaling in the NAc are hallmarks of addiction. Our study shows that TANs use glutamate to reduce DA release and decrease reinforcing properties of cocaine in mice. Interestingly, we also observed an increased frequency of rare variations in SLC17A8 in a cohort of severe drug abusers compared with controls. Our findings identify VGLUT3 as an unexpected regulator of drug abuse.
Acetylcholine (ACh) plays a crucial role in physiological responses of both the central and the peripheral nervous system. Moreover, ACh was described as an anti-inflammatory mediator involved in the ...suppression of exacerbated innate response and cytokine release in various organs. However, the specific contributions of endogenous release ACh for inflammatory responses in the lung are not well understood. To address this question we have used mice with reduced levels of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), a protein required for ACh storage in secretory vesicles. VAChT deficiency induced airway inflammation with enhanced TNF-α and IL-4 content, but not IL-6, IL-13 and IL-10 quantified by ELISA. Mice with decreased levels of VAChT presented increased collagen and elastic fibers deposition in airway walls which was consistent with an increase in inflammatory cells positive to MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in the lung. In vivo lung function evaluation showed airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine in mutant mice. The expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (p65-NF-kB) in lung of VAChT-deficient mice were higher than in wild-type mice, whereas a decreased expression of janus-kinase 2 (JAK2) was observed in the lung of mutant animals. Our findings show the first evidence that cholinergic deficiency impaired lung function and produce local inflammation. Our data supports the notion that cholinergic system modulates airway inflammation by modulation of JAK2 and NF-kB pathway. We proposed that intact cholinergic pathway is necessary to maintain the lung homeostasis.
Defective brain hormonal signaling has been associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), a disorder characterized by synapse and memory failure. Irisin is an exercise-induced myokine released on ...cleavage of the membrane-bound precursor protein fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), also expressed in the hippocampus. Here we show that FNDC5/irisin levels are reduced in AD hippocampi and cerebrospinal fluid, and in experimental AD models. Knockdown of brain FNDC5/irisin impairs long-term potentiation and novel object recognition memory in mice. Conversely, boosting brain levels of FNDC5/irisin rescues synaptic plasticity and memory in AD mouse models. Peripheral overexpression of FNDC5/irisin rescues memory impairment, whereas blockade of either peripheral or brain FNDC5/irisin attenuates the neuroprotective actions of physical exercise on synaptic plasticity and memory in AD mice. By showing that FNDC5/irisin is an important mediator of the beneficial effects of exercise in AD models, our findings place FNDC5/irisin as a novel agent capable of opposing synapse failure and memory impairment in AD.
In this work electron backscattered diffraction-assisted slip trace analysis was utilized to investigate the origin of the high temperature reversed yield asymmetry in a Mg-rare earth alloy. This ...material was tested at room and high temperature, in tension and compression, both in the as-extruded condition, in which the alloying elements are in solid solution, as well as following two aging treatments which gave rise to different precipitation levels. A statistically relevant number of slip traces were analyzed after each test in order to estimate the influence of the testing conditions and the precipitation state on the relative activity of basal, prismatic and pyramidal <c+a> systems. In tension, basal slip was found to be the dominant deformation mechanism under all the testing conditions investigated. In compression, twinning predominated always at room temperature and was replaced by basal slip in the aged samples at high temperature. A pronounced reversed yield asymmetry, i.e., the presence of a higher yield stress in compression than in tension, was observed at high temperature in the aged alloy samples. Careful microstructural examination of the spatial distribution of slip traces by high resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed increased intra- and intergranular basal slip localization in those specimens under tensile deformation at high temperature. The high temperature reversed yield asymmetry observed in the aged samples was thus attributed to the suppression of twinning in compression and to enhanced softening in tension due to basal slip localization.
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Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are an unusual family of neoplasms with a wide and complex spectrum of clinical behavior. Here, we present the first report of a National Cancer Registry of ...gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors from a Southern European country.
Data was provided online at www.retegep.net by participating centers and assessed for internal consistency by external independent reviewers.
The study cohort comprised 907 tumors. The most common tumor types were carcinoids (55%), pancreatic nonfunctional tumors (20%), metastatic NETs of unknown primary (9%), insulinomas (8%) and gastrinomas (4%). Forty-four percent presented with distant disease at diagnosis, most often those from small intestine (65%), colon (48%), rectum (40%) and pancreas (38%), being most unusual in appendix primaries (1.3%). Stage at diagnosis varied significantly according to sex, localization of primary tumor, tumor type and grade. Overall 5-year survival was 75.4% (95% confidence interval 71.3% to 79.5%) and was significantly greater in women, younger patients and patients with hormonal syndrome and early stage or lower grade tumors. Prognosis also differed according to tumor type and primary tumor site. However, stage and Ki-67 index were the only independent predictors for survival.
This national database reveals relevant information regarding epidemiology, current clinical practices and prognosis of NETs in Spain, providing valuable insights that may contribute to understand regional disparities in the incidence, patterns of care and survival of this heterogeneous disease across different continents and countries.
Summary
Objective
To evaluate the in vivo and in vitro responses to nOle e 1 in allergic rhinitis (AR) and local allergic rhinitis (LAR) patients sensitized to olive tree pollen (OL) confirmed by ...nasal allergen provocation test (NAPT).
Methods
Twelve subjects with AR, 12 with LAR and 12 subjects as control group (CG) were selected. Skin testing and NAPT with nOle e 1 were performed. Eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP) and tryptase were measured in nasal lavages before and after NAPT. Serum IgE to OL allergens was measured by ELISA. Basophil activation tests (BAT) with OL and nOle e 1 and dendritic cell maturation/proliferation studies were carried out.
Results
All AR (12/12) and 10/12 (83%) of LAR had a +NAPT to nOle e 1. ECP levels in nasal lavages were significantly increased after NAPT in both AR and LAR compared with CG at 15 min (P < 0.05). Serum IgE was positive only in AR. All AR had +BAT responses to OL and 10/12 to nOle e 1 (83%); 8/12 LAR (66.6%) had a +BAT to OL and 4/12 (33%) to nOle e 1, with only one subject of the CG with a +BAT to both OL and nOle e 1 (8%). Dendritic cell proliferation to nOle e 1 was increased in AR compared to LAR and CG (P = 0.019 and P = 0.001, respectively).
Conclusion
Both AR and LAR had a similar in vivo response to nOle e 1 with release of inflammatory mediators. Specific basophil activation with OL and nOle e 1 was observed in LAR confirming previous data obtained with dust mites.
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