Independent response modulation of visual cortical neurons by attentional and behavioral states

Neuron

2022 Sep 16

Kanamori, T;Mrsic-Flogel, TD;
PMID: 36137550 | DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.08.028

Sensory processing is influenced by cognitive and behavioral states, but how these states interact to modulate responses of individual neurons is unknown. We trained mice in a visual discrimination task wherein they attended to different locations within a hemifield while running or sitting still, enabling us to examine how visual responses are modulated by spatial attention and running behavior. We found that spatial attention improved discrimination performance and strengthened visual responses of excitatory neurons in the primary visual cortex whose receptive fields overlapped with the attended location. Although individual neurons were modulated by both spatial attention and running, the magnitudes of these influences were not correlated. While running-dependent modulation was stable across days, attentional modulation was dynamic, influencing individual neurons to different degrees after repeated changes in attentional states. Thus, despite similar effects on neural responses, spatial attention and running act independently with different dynamics, implying separable mechanisms for their implementation.

Epicardium-derived cells organize through tight junctions to replenish cardiac muscle in salamanders

Nature cell biology

2022 May 01

Eroglu, E;Yen, CYT;Tsoi, YL;Witman, N;Elewa, A;Joven Araus, A;Wang, H;Szattler, T;Umeano, CH;Sohlmér, J;Goedel, A;Simon, A;Chien, KR;
PMID: 35550612 | DOI: 10.1038/s41556-022-00902-2

The contribution of the epicardium, the outermost layer of the heart, to cardiac regeneration has remained controversial due to a lack of suitable analytical tools. By combining genetic marker-independent lineage-tracing strategies with transcriptional profiling and loss-of-function methods, we report here that the epicardium of the highly regenerative salamander species Pleurodeles waltl has an intrinsic capacity to differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Following cryoinjury, CLDN6+ epicardium-derived cells appear at the lesion site, organize into honeycomb-like structures connected via focal tight junctions and undergo transcriptional reprogramming that results in concomitant differentiation into de novo cardiomyocytes. Ablation of CLDN6+ differentiation intermediates as well as disruption of their tight junctions impairs cardiac regeneration. Salamanders constitute the evolutionarily closest species to mammals with an extensive ability to regenerate heart muscle and our results highlight the epicardium and tight junctions as key targets in efforts to promote cardiac regeneration.

Regulation of energy rheostasis by the melanocortin-3 receptor

Sci Adv.

2018 Aug 22

Ghamari-Langroudi M, Cakir I, Lippert RN, Sweeney P, Litt MJ, Ellacott KLJ, Cone RD.
PMID: 30140740 | DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat0866

Like most homeostatic systems, adiposity in mammals is defended between upper and lower boundary conditions. While leptin and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) signaling are required for defending energy set point, mechanisms controlling upper and lower homeostatic boundaries are less well understood. In contrast to the MC4R, deletion of the MC3R does not produce measurable hyperphagia or hypometabolism under normal conditions. However, we demonstrate that MC3R is required bidirectionally for controlling responses to external homeostatic challenges, such as caloric restriction or calorie-rich diet. MC3R is also required for regulated excursion from set point, or rheostasis, during pregnancy. Further, we demonstrate a molecular mechanism: MC3R provides regulatory inputs to melanocortin signaling, acting presynaptically on agouti-related protein neurons to regulate γ-aminobutyric acid release onto anorexigenic MC4R neurons, exerting boundary control on the activity of MC4R neurons. Thus, the MC3R is a critical regulator of boundary controls on melanocortin signaling, providing rheostatic control on energy storage.

An epithelial-immune circuit amplifies inflammasome and IL-6 responses to SARS-CoV-2

Cell host & microbe

2022 Dec 09

Barnett, KC;Xie, Y;Asakura, T;Song, D;Liang, K;Taft-Benz, SA;Guo, H;Yang, S;Okuda, K;Gilmore, RC;Loome, JF;Oguin Iii, TH;Sempowski, GD;Randell, SH;Heise, MT;Lei, YL;Boucher, RC;Ting, JP;
PMID: 36563691 | DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.12.005

Elevated levels of cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 are associated with severe COVID-19. Investigating the underlying mechanisms, we find that while primary human airway epithelia (HAE) have functional inflammasomes and support SARS-CoV-2 replication, they are not the source of IL-1β released upon infection. In leukocytes, the SARS-CoV-2 E protein upregulates inflammasome gene transcription via TLR2 to prime, but not activate, inflammasomes. SARS-CoV-2-infected HAE supply a second signal, which includes genomic and mitochondrial DNA, to stimulate leukocyte IL-1β release. Nuclease treatment, STING, and caspase-1 inhibition but not NLRP3 inhibition blocked leukocyte IL-1β release. After release, IL-1β stimulates IL-6 secretion from HAE. Therefore, infection alone does not increase IL-1β secretion by either cell type. Rather, bi-directional interactions between the SARS-CoV-2-infected epithelium and immune bystanders stimulates both IL-1β and IL-6, creating a pro-inflammatory cytokine circuit. Consistent with these observations, patient autopsy lungs show elevated myeloid inflammasome gene signatures in severe COVID-19.

System-wide transcriptome damage and tissue identity loss in COVID-19 patients

Cell Reports Medicine

2022 Jan 01

Park, J;Foox, J;Hether, T;Danko, D;Warren, S;Kim, Y;Reeves, J;Butler, D;Mozsary, C;Rosiene, J;Shaiber, A;Afshin, E;MacKay, M;Rendeiro, A;Bram, Y;Chandar, V;Geiger, H;Craney, A;Velu, P;Melnick, A;Hajirasouliha, I;Beheshti, A;Taylor, D;Saravia-Butler, A;Singh, U;Wurtele, E;Schisler, J;Fennessey, S;Corvelo, A;Zody, M;Germer, S;Salvatore, S;Levy, S;Wu, S;Tatonetti, N;Shapira, S;Salvatore, M;Westblade, L;Cushing, M;Rennert, H;Kriegel, A;Elemento, O;Imielinski, M;Rice, C;Borczuk, A;Meydan, C;Schwartz, R;Mason, C;
| DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100522

The molecular mechanisms underlying the clinical manifestations of COVID-19 and what distinguishes them from common seasonal influenza virus and other lung injury states such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, remains poorly understood. To address these challenges, we combine transcriptional profiling of 646 clinical nasopharyngeal swabs and 39 patient autopsy tissues to define body-wide transcriptome changes in response to COVID-19. We then match this data with spatial protein and expression profiling across 357 tissue sections from 16 representative patient lung samples and identify tissue compartment-specific damage wrought by SARS-CoV-2 infection, evident as a function of varying viral loads during the clinical course of infection and tissue type specific expression states. Overall, our findings reveal a systemic disruption of canonical cellular and transcriptional pathways across all tissues, which can inform subsequent studies to combat the mortality of COVID-19 and to better understand the molecular dynamics of lethal SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory infections.

Skin basal cell carcinomas assemble a pro-tumorigenic spatially organized and self-propagating Trem2+ myeloid niche

Nature communications

2023 May 10

Haensel, D;Daniel, B;Gaddam, S;Pan, C;Fabo, T;Bjelajac, J;Jussila, AR;Gonzalez, F;Li, NY;Chen, Y;Hou, J;Patel, T;Aasi, S;Satpathy, AT;Oro, AE;
PMID: 37164949 | DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37993-w

Cancer immunotherapies have revolutionized treatment but have shown limited success as single-agent therapies highlighting the need to understand the origin, assembly, and dynamics of heterogeneous tumor immune niches. Here, we use single-cell and imaging-based spatial analysis to elucidate three microenvironmental neighborhoods surrounding the heterogeneous basal cell carcinoma tumor epithelia. Within the highly proliferative neighborhood, we find that TREM2+ skin cancer-associated macrophages (SCAMs) support the proliferation of a distinct tumor epithelial population through an immunosuppression-independent manner via oncostatin-M/JAK-STAT3 signaling. SCAMs represent a unique tumor-specific TREM2+ population defined by VCAM1 surface expression that is not found in normal homeostatic skin or during wound healing. Furthermore, SCAMs actively proliferate and self-propagate through multiple serial tumor passages, indicating long-term potential. The tumor rapidly drives SCAM differentiation, with intratumoral injections sufficient to instruct naive bone marrow-derived monocytes to polarize within days. This work provides mechanistic insights into direct tumor-immune niche dynamics independent of immunosuppression, providing the basis for potential combination tumor therapies.

Innate Immune Pathways Promote Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Recruitment to the Injury Site in Adult Zebrafish Brain

Cells

2022 Feb 02

Sanchez-Gonzalez, R;Koupourtidou, C;Lepko, T;Zambusi, A;Novoselc, KT;Durovic, T;Aschenbroich, S;Schwarz, V;Breunig, CT;Straka, H;Huttner, HB;Irmler, M;Beckers, J;Wurst, W;Zwergal, A;Schauer, T;Straub, T;Czopka, T;Trümbach, D;Götz, M;Stricker, SH;Ninkovic, J;
PMID: 35159329 | DOI: 10.3390/cells11030520

The oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs) are at the front of the glial reaction to the traumatic brain injury. However, regulatory pathways steering the OPC reaction as well as the role of reactive OPCs remain largely unknown. Here, we compared a long-lasting, exacerbated reaction of OPCs to the adult zebrafish brain injury with a timely restricted OPC activation to identify the specific molecular mechanisms regulating OPC reactivity and their contribution to regeneration. We demonstrated that the influx of the cerebrospinal fluid into the brain parenchyma after injury simultaneously activates the toll-like receptor 2 (Tlr2) and the chemokine receptor 3 (Cxcr3) innate immunity pathways, leading to increased OPC proliferation and thereby exacerbated glial reactivity. These pathways were critical for long-lasting OPC accumulation even after the ablation of microglia and infiltrating monocytes. Importantly, interference with the Tlr1/2 and Cxcr3 pathways after injury alleviated reactive gliosis, increased new neuron recruitment, and improved tissue restoration.

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	Description
sense Example: Hs-LAG3-sense	Standard probes for RNA detection are in antisense. Sense probe is reverse complent to the corresponding antisense probe.
Intron# Example: Mm-Htt-intron2	Probe targets the indicated intron in the target gene, commonly used for pre-mRNA detection
Pool/Pan Example: Hs-CD3-pool (Hs-CD3D, Hs-CD3E, Hs-CD3G)	A mixture of multiple probe sets targeting multiple genes or transcripts
No-XSp Example: Hs-PDGFB-No-XMm	Does not cross detect with the species (Sp)
XSp Example: Rn-Pde9a-XMm	designed to cross detect with the species (Sp)
O# Example: Mm-Islr-O1	Alternative design targeting different regions of the same transcript or isoforms
CDS Example: Hs-SLC31A-CDS	Probe targets the protein-coding sequence only
EnEm	Probe targets exons n and m
En-Em	Probe targets region from exon n to exon m
Retired Nomenclature
tvn Example: Hs-LEPR-tv1	Designed to target transcript variant n
ORF Example: Hs-ACVRL1-ORF	Probe targets open reading frame
UTR Example: Hs-HTT-UTR-C3	Probe targets the untranslated region (non-protein-coding region) only
5UTR Example: Hs-GNRHR-5UTR	Probe targets the 5' untranslated region only
3UTR Example: Rn-Npy1r-3UTR	Probe targets the 3' untranslated region only
Pan Example: Pool	A mixture of multiple probe sets targeting multiple genes or transcripts

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