| 1. |
- Babateen, Omar M., 1983-
(författare)
-
GABA signaling regulation by GLP-1 receptor agonists and GABA-A receptors modulator
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) is the main neuroinhibitory transmitter in mammalian brains. It binds to GABA-A and GABA-B receptors. The GABA-A receptors are ligand-gated chloride channels. A variety of GABA-A receptor agonists and antagonists have been developed to study the GABA-mediated inhibition and to explore new medications. In this thesis I have examined the role of GABA in brain tumors and the effects of the metabolic hormone GLP-1 on GABAergic signaling in neurons.I studied if GABA-A receptors subunits were expressed and formed functional ion channels in the glioblastoma cell line U3047MG. I identified the mRNA of 11, α2, α3, α5, β1, β2, β3, δ, γ3, π, θ and ρ2, out of the 19 known GABA-A subunits. Immunostaining demonstrated abundant expression of the α3 and β3 subunits. Interestingly, whole-cell GABA-activated currents were recorded in only 12% of the cells. The GABA-activated currents half-maximal concentration (EC50) was 36 µM. The currents were modulated by diazepam (1 µM) and the general anesthetics propofol (50 µM) and etomidate (EC50 = 50 nM).GLP-1 and exendin-4 transiently enhanced the GABA-A receptor-mediated currents in CA3 neurons of the rat hippocampus. The tonic and the spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents increased as compared to control in a concentration dependent manner. The increase was related to enhanced release of GABA from the presynaptic terminals and increased insertion or affinity of GABA-A receptors in the CA3 postsynaptic neuron. In contrast to GLP-1 and exendin-4, liraglutide enhanced the currents only in a subset of the neurons and the effect was mainly mediated by presynaptic mechanisms. In conclusion, GABA signaling in neurons is modified by the metabolic hormone GLP-1 and its mimetics highlighting the important cross-talk that takes place between the brain and other organs. Medicines modifying GABA signaling in the brain may be important for a number of diseases.
|
|
| 2. |
- Bhandage, Amol K., 1988-
(författare)
-
Glutamate and GABA signalling components in the human brain and in immune cells
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the principal excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS). They both can activate their ionotropic and metabotropic receptors. Glutamate activates ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGlu - AMPA, kainate and NMDA receptors) and GABA activates GABA-A receptors which are modulated by many types of drugs and substances including alcohol. Using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, I have shown that iGlu and/or GABA-A receptor subunits were expressed in the hippocampus dentate gyrus (HDG), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC), central amygdala (CeA), caudate and putamen of the human brain and their expression was altered by chronic excessive alcohol consumption. It indicates that excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission may have been altered in the brain of human alcoholics. It is possible that changes in one type of neurotransmitter system may drive changes in another. These brain regions also play a role in brain reward system. Any changes in them may lead to changes in the normal brain functions.Apart from the CNS, glutamate and GABA are also present in the blood and can be synthesised by pancreatic islet cells and immune cells. They may act as immunomodulators of circulating immune cells and can affect immune function through glutamate and GABA receptors. I found that T cells from human, rat and mouse lymph nodes expressed the mRNAs and proteins for specific GABA-A receptor subunits. GABA-evoked transient and tonic currents recorded using the patch clamp technique demonstrate the functional GABA-A channel in T cells. Furthermore, the mRNAs for specific iGlu, GABA-A and GABA-B receptor subunits and chloride cotransporters were detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from men, non-pregnant women, healthy and depressed pregnant women. The results indicate that the expression of iGlu, GABA-A and GABA-B receptors is related to gender, pregnancy and mental health and support the notion that glutamate and GABA receptors may modulate immune function. Intra- and interspecies variability exists in the expression and it is further influenced by physiological conditions.
|
|
| 3. |
- Hammoud, Hayma
(författare)
-
Insulin promotes GABA signalling modulation in both the mouse hippocampus and human CD4+ T cells
- 2022
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most common inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult mammalian brain, where it mediates several biological functions. Rapid inhibition is predominantly mediated by the activation of GABA-A receptors that are ubiquitously expressed across the central nervous system in a cell-, circuit-, or region-specific manner. This work contains four studies where GABA signalling and the modulatory effects of insulin are examined.In paper I, we used the patch-clamp technique to record synaptic and extrasynaptic GABA-A receptor-activated tonic currents from the granule cells of the dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 pyramidal neurons along the dorsoventral axis of the mouse hippocampus. The results suggested cell type-specific variations in the inhibitory tone along the longitudinal hippocampal axis. In paper II, we analyzed both cell types in the mouse hippocampus and aimed to determine the effects of insulin on GABA signalling along the dorsoventral axis in the wild-type and Alzheimer’s disease animal model, tg-APPSwe mice. Physiological concentration of insulin modulated GABAergic synaptic and extrasynaptic tonic currents based on neuronal subtype and position along the axis in young wild-type mice. Furthermore, insulin normalized GABA-activated currents in aged tg-APPSwe mice to levels similar to those recorded in wild-type mice.In addition to the brain, GABA is present in blood and acts as a signalling molecule in immune cells. We show in paper III that GABA modulated cytokine release and the proliferation of activated CD4+ T cells isolated from normal individuals. These effects were differentially regulated by extracellular glucose concentration; the effects decreased as extracellular glucose concentration increased. GABA also modulated the expression of several genes and metabolism-related proteins in activated CD4+ T cells. Furthermore, insulin treatment increased the expression of the rho2 subunit of GABA-A receptors in activated CD4+ T cells and further enhanced the GABA effects. In paper IV, we observed that GABA inhibited the proliferation and altered cytokine release in a glucose concentration-dependent manner in activated CD4+ T cells isolated from type I diabetic patients. The findings of papers III and IV indicated a subset of samples called “non-responders”, wherein GABA did not affect the proliferation of activated CD4+ T cells but increased the release of a number of cytokines.The findings in my thesis increase the understanding of the modulatory effects of insulin on GABA signalling when GABA functions as a neurotransmitter and as an immunoregulatory molecule.
|
|
| 4. |
- Fatima, Ambrin, et al.
(författare)
-
Monoallelic and bi-allelic variants in NCDN cause neurodevelopmental delay, intellectual disability, and epilepsy
- 2021
-
Ingår i: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Cell Press. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 108:4, s. 739-748
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neurochondrin (NCDN) is a cytoplasmatic neural protein of importance for neural growth, glutamate receptor (mGluR) signaling, and synaptic plasticity. Conditional loss of Ncdn in mice neural tissue causes depressive-like behaviors, impaired spatial learning, and epileptic seizures. We report on NCDN missense variants in six affected individuals with variable degrees of developmental delay, intellectual disability (ID), and seizures. Three siblings were found homozygous for a NCDN missense variant, whereas another three unrelated individuals carried different de novo missense variants in NCDN. We assayed the missense variants for their capability to rescue impaired neurite formation in human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cells depleted of NCDN. Overexpression of wild-type NCDN rescued the neurite-phenotype in contrast to expression of NCDN containing the variants of affected individuals. Two missense variants, associated with severe neurodevelopmental features and epilepsy, were unable to restore mGluR5-induced ERK phosphorylation. Electrophysiological analysis of SH-SY5Y cells depleted of NCDN exhibited altered membrane potential and impaired action potentials at repolarization, suggesting NCDN to be required for normal biophysical properties. Using available transcriptome data from human fetal cortex, we show that NCDN is highly expressed in maturing excitatory neurons. In combination, our data provide evidence that bi-allelic and de novo variants in NCDN cause a clinically variable form of neurodevelopmental delay and epilepsy, highlighting a critical role for NCDN in human brain development.
|
|
| 5. |
- Karlsson, Urban, 1967-
(författare)
-
GABA-, glycine- and glutamate-induced currents in rat medial preoptic neurons : functional interactions and modulation by capsaicin
- 2007
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) of the hypothalamus plays a major role in many functions involved in maintaining bodily homeostasis, such as thermoregulation and osmoregulation, as well as in the control of complex behaviours, e.g. sexual behaviour. A fundamental basis for the control and execution of these functions is the synaptic communication between neurons of the MPN. However, the functional properties of the synapses involved are largely unknown. The present thesis is a study of ligand-gated ion channels involved in the pre- and post-synaptic aspects of neuronal communication in the MPN of rat. The aim was to clarify synaptic properties in the MPN, to identify the major channel types involved and to obtain a better understanding of their functional properties. By fast application of agonists to isolated neurons, it was first demonstrated that all neurons responded to glutamate with currents mediated by α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptors, and a majority of neurons also with currents mediated by N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. All neurons also responded to γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine with currents mediated by GABAA receptors and glycine receptors, respectively. These findings show that fast-acting excitatory and inhibitory amino-acid transmitters are most likely important for communication between hypothalamic neurons. Application of agonists to isolated neurons revealed cross-talk, detected as an apparent cross-desensitization, between the responses to GABA and those to glycine. Parallel analysis of current and conductance, using gramicidin-perforated patches to avoid perturbing intracellular chloride concentration, showed that the cross-talk was not dependent on a direct interaction between the receptors as previously suggested, but was a consequence of the change in the intracellular chloride concentration during receptor activation. Strengthened by a computer model, the analysis also showed that the current decay in the presence of GABA or glycine was mainly due to a change in the chloride driving force and that receptor desensitization played a minor role only. The role of thermo-sensitive transient receptor potential TRPV1 channels in the regulation of glutamate- and GABA-mediated transmission was studied in the slice preparation, where much of the synaptic connections between neurons are preserved. It was shown that application of the TRPV1 agonist capsaicin increased the frequency of excitatory AMPA receptor- mediated as well as inhibitory GABAA receptor-mediated postsynaptic currents. This effect was partly presynaptic and demonstrates that TRP channels play a role in regulating synaptic transmission in the MPN. The results imply that such mechanisms may possibly contribute to the thermoregulation by MPN neurons.
|
|
| 6. |
- Kvarnung, Malin, et al.
(författare)
-
Ataxia in Patients With Bi-Allelic NFASC Mutations and Absence of Full-Length NF186
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Genetics. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-8021. ; 10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The etiology of hereditary ataxia syndromes is heterogeneous, and the mechanisms underlying these disorders are often unknown. Here, we utilized exome sequencing in two siblings with progressive ataxia and muscular weakness and identified a novel homozygous splice mutation (c.3020-1G > A) in neurofascin (NFASC). In RNA extracted from fibroblasts, we showed that the mutation resulted in inframe skipping of exon 26, with a deprived expression of the full-length transcript that corresponds to NFASC isoform NF186. To further investigate the disease mechanisms, we reprogrammed fibroblasts from one affected sibling to induced pluripotent stem cells, directed them to neuroepithelial stem cells and finally differentiated to neurons. In early neurogenesis, differentiating cells with selective depletion of the NF186 isoform showed significantly reduced neurite outgrowth as well as fewer emerging neurites. Furthermore, whole-cell patch-clamp recordings of patient-derived neuronal cells revealed a lower threshold for openings, indicating altered Na+ channel kinetics, suggesting a lower threshold for openings as compared to neuronal cells without the NFASC mutation. Taken together, our results suggest that loss of the full-length NFASC isoform NF186 causes perturbed neurogenesis and impaired neuronal biophysical properties resulting in a novel early-onset autosomal recessive ataxia syndrome.
|
|
| 7. |
- Schuster, Jens, Assistant Professor, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
-
Transcriptomes of Dravet syndrome iPSC derived GABAergic cells reveal dysregulated pathways for chromatin remodeling and neurodevelopment
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Neurobiology of Disease. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-9961 .- 1095-953X. ; 132
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dravet syndrome (DS) is an early onset refractory epilepsy typically caused by de novo heterozygous variants in SCN1A encoding the a-subunit of the neuronal sodium channel Na(v)1.1. The syndrome is characterized by age related progression of seizures, cognitive decline and movement disorders. We hypothesized that the distinct neurodevelopmental features in DS are caused by the disruption of molecular pathways in Na(v)1.1 haploinsufficient cells resulting in perturbed neural differentiation and maturation. Here, we established DS-patient and control induced pluripotent stem cell derived neural progenitor cells (iPSC NPC) and GABAergic interneuronal (iPSC GABA) cells. The DS-patient iPSC GABA cells showed a shift in sodium current activation and a perturbed response to induced oxidative stress. Transcriptome analysis revealed specific dysregulations of genes for chromatin structure, mitotic progression, neural plasticity and excitability in DS-patient iPSC NPCs and DS-patient iPSC GABA cells versus controls. The transcription factors FOXM1 and E2F1, positive regulators of the disrupted pathways for histone modification and cell cycle regulation, were markedly up-regulated in DS-iPSC GABA lines. Our study highlights transcriptional changes and disrupted pathways of chromatin remodeling in Na(v)1.1 haploinsufficient GABAergic cells, providing a molecular framework that overlaps with that of neurodevelopmental disorders and other epilepsies.
|
|
| 8. |
- Schuster, Jens, Assistant Professor, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
-
ZEB2 haploinsufficient Mowat-Wilson syndrome induced pluripotent stem cells show disrupted GABAergic transcriptional regulation and function
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1662-5099. ; 15
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mowat-Wilson syndrome (MWS) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder caused by heterozygous variants in the gene encoding transcription factor ZEB2. Affected individuals present with structural brain abnormalities, speech delay and epilepsy. In mice, conditional loss of Zeb2 causes hippocampal degeneration, altered migration and differentiation of GABAergic interneurons, a heterogeneous population of mainly inhibitory neurons of importance for maintaining normal excitability. To get insights into GABAergic development and function in MWS we investigated ZEB2 haploinsufficient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) of MWS subjects together with iPSC of healthy donors. Analysis of RNA-sequencing data at two time points of GABAergic development revealed an attenuated interneuronal identity in MWS subject derived iPSC with enrichment of differentially expressed genes required for transcriptional regulation, cell fate transition and forebrain patterning. The ZEB2 haploinsufficient neural stem cells (NSCs) showed downregulation of genes required for ventral telencephalon specification, such as FOXG1, accompanied by an impaired migratory capacity. Further differentiation into GABAergic interneuronal cells uncovered upregulation of transcription factors promoting pallial and excitatory neurons whereas cortical markers were downregulated. The differentially expressed genes formed a neural protein-protein network with extensive connections to well-established epilepsy genes. Analysis of electrophysiological properties in ZEB2 haploinsufficient GABAergic cells revealed overt perturbations manifested as impaired firing of repeated action potentials. Our iPSC model of ZEB2 haploinsufficient GABAergic development thus uncovers a dysregulated gene network leading to immature interneurons with mixed identity and altered electrophysiological properties, suggesting mechanisms contributing to the neuropathogenesis and seizures in MWS.
|
|
