Integrin-mediated signaling contributes to gadolinium-containing-particle-promoted cell survival and G₁ to S phase cell cycle transition by enhancing focal adhesion formation

Gadolinium-based contrast agent accelerates the migration of astrocyte via integrin αvβ3 signaling pathway

Gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agents (GBCAs) are chemicals injected intravenously during magnetic resonance imaging to enhance the diagnostic yield. Repeated use of GBCAs causes their deposition in the brain. Such deposition may affect various neuronal cells, including astrocytes. In this study, we examined the effect of GBCAs (Omniscan, Magnescope, Magnevist, and Gadovist) on astrocyte migration, which is critical for formation of neurons during development and maintaining brain homeostasis. All GBCAs increased cell migration and adhesion with increased actin remodelling. Knockdown of integrin αvβ3 by RNAi or exposure to integrin αvβ3 inhibitor reduced astrocyte migration. GBCAs increased phosphorylation of downstream factors of αvβ3, such as FAK, ERK1/2, and Akt. The phosphorylation of all these factors were reduced by RNAi or integrin αvβ3 inhibitor. GBCAs also increased the phosphorylation of their downstream factor, Rac1/cdc42, belonging to the RhoGTPases family. Coexposure to the selective RhoGTPases inhibitors, decreased the effects of GBCAs on cell migration. These findings indicate that GBCAs exert their action via integrin αvβ3 to activate the signaling pathway, resulting in increased astrocyte migration. Thus, the findings of the study suggest that it is important to avoid the repeated use of GBCAs to prevent adverse side effects in the brain, particularly during development.

A transcriptomic analysis of serial-cultured, tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells reveals decreased integrin α3 protein as a potential biomarker of senescent cells

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely used for stem cell therapy, and serial passage of stem cells is often required to obtain sufficient cell numbers for practical applications in regenerative medicine. A long-term serial cell expansion can potentially induce replicative senescence, which leads to a progressive decline in stem cell function and stemness, losing multipotent characteristics. To improve the therapeutic efficiency of stem cell therapy, it would be important to identify specific biomarkers for senescent cells.

Methods

Tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (TMSCs) with 20–25 passages were designated as culture-aged TMSCs, and their mesodermal differentiation potentials as well as markers of senescence and stemness were compared with the control TMSCs passaged up to 8 times at the most (designated as young). A whole-genome analysis was used to identify novel regulatory factors that distinguish between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The identified markers of replicative senescence were validated using Western blot analyses.

Results

The culture-aged TMSCs showed longer doubling time compared to control TMSCs and had higher expression of senescence-associated (SA)-β-gal staining but lower expression of the stemness protein markers, including Nanog, Oct4, and Sox2 with decreased adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation potentials. Microarray analyses identified a total of 18,614 differentially expressed genes between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The differentially expressed genes were classified into the Gene Ontology categories of cellular component (CC), functional component (FC), and biological process (BP) using KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) pathway analysis. This analysis revealed that those genes associated with CC and BP showed the most significant difference between the culture-aged and control TMSCs. The genes related to extracellular matrix-receptor interactions were also shown to be significantly different (p < 0.001). We also found that culture-aged TMSCs had decreased expressions of integrin α3 (ITGA3) and phosphorylated AKT protein (p-AKT-Ser⁴⁷³) compared to the control TMSCs.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that activation of ECM-receptor signaling, specifically involved with integrin family-mediated activation of the intracellular cell survival-signaling molecule AKT, can regulate stem cell senescence in TMSCs. Among these identified factors, ITGA3 was found to be a representative biomarker of the senescent TMSCs. Exclusion of the TMSCs with the senescent TMSC markers in this study could potentially increase the therapeutic efficacy of TMSCs in clinical applications.

Bioinformatic identification of key candidate genes and pathways in axon regeneration after spinal cord injury in zebrafish

Zebrafish and human genomes are highly homologous; however, despite this genomic similarity, adult zebrafish can achieve neuronal proliferation, regeneration and functional restoration within 6–8 weeks after spinal cord injury, whereas humans cannot. To analyze differentially expressed zebrafish genes between axon-regenerated neurons and axon-non-regenerated neurons after spinal cord injury, and to explore the key genes and pathways of axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury, microarray GSE56842 was analyzed using the online tool, GEO2R, in the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Gene ontology and protein-protein interaction networks were used to analyze the identified differentially expressed genes. Finally, we screened for genes and pathways that may play a role in spinal cord injury repair in zebrafish and mammals. A total of 636 differentially expressed genes were obtained, including 255 up-regulated and 381 down-regulated differentially expressed genes in axon-regenerated neurons. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment results were also obtained. A protein-protein interaction network contained 480 node genes and 1976 node connections. We also obtained the 10 hub genes with the highest correlation and the two modules with the highest score. The results showed that spectrin may promote axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury in zebrafish. Transforming growth factor beta signaling may inhibit repair after spinal cord injury in zebrafish. Focal adhesion or tight junctions may play an important role in the migration and proliferation of some cells, such as Schwann cells or neural progenitor cells, after spinal cord injury in zebrafish. Bioinformatic analysis identified key candidate genes and pathways in axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury in zebrafish, providing targets for treatment of spinal cord injury in mammals.

Gadolinium chloride promotes proliferation of HEK293 human embryonic kidney cells by activating EGFR/PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways

Prolonged exposure to gadolinium-based contrast agents has been reported to trigger nephrogenic systemic fibrosis in end stage renal disease patients. However, the exact molecular mechanisms are not fully understood, and no effective therapy is available to date. In the present study, we report that gadolinium chloride (Gd³⁺) concentration- and time-dependently promoted the proliferation of HEK293 human embryonic kidney cells by increasing DNA synthesis. Gd³⁺ treatment increased the protein levels of phosphorylated Akt and MAPKs. Inhibition of Akt and ERK by pharmacological inhibitors abolished the increased proliferation and cell cycle progression. Furthermore, Gd³⁺ activated EGFR signaling possibly by enhancing EGFR clustering on the cell membrane. Inhibition of EGFR by gefitinib blocked Gd³⁺-induced proliferation. Gd³⁺ exposure also upregulated the mRNA levels of TGFβ-1, TGFβR1, TNFα, TIMP-1 and integrin αV, β1 which could also be attenuated by the inhibition of Akt and ERK signaling. Our study provides new clues for the etiological role of Gd³⁺ in the pathogenesis of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, and suggests the inhibition of EGFR/Akt/ERK signaling as a potential treatment strategy.

Carbonate and phosphite encaged in frameworks constructed from square lanthanum aminopolycarboxylates and sodium chloride

Novel additives of lanthanum aminopolycarboxylates with inorganic anions, Na12n[La(edta)L]4n·8nNaCl·4nH2O (1: L = HPO32-; 2: L = CO32-) and K12n[La(cdta)(CO3)]4n·35nH2O (3) (H4edta = ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; H4cdta = cyclohexanediaminetetraacetic acid), were obtained in alkaline solution. Structural analyses reveal that 1 and 2 are isomorphous and contain interesting square structures. HPO32- (CO32-) was encaged in the constructed tetranuclear frameworks. Tetranuclear lanthanum ethylenediaminetetraacetate was further encaged in superstructures of sodium chloride. 3 has a similar square structure, in which edta is replaced by cdta. All complexes are fully characterized via elemental, FT-IR, NMR, thermogravimetric and structural analyses. Solution 13C NMR spectra show that 1 and 2 dissociate into mononuclear units in water. Interestingly, 2 possesses 3.7 Å diameter holes inside its crystals, which can adsorb a small amount of O2 or CO2 selectively. The amounts of O2 and CO2 adsorbed increase gradually from 0.32 and 0.38 mg g-1 at 0.4 bar to 15.90 and 10.54 mg g-1 at 29.9 bar, respectively.

Comparative study of the effects of gadolinium chloride and gadolinium - based magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent on freshwater mussel, Dreissena polymorpha

Gadolinium (Gd), a metal of the lanthanide series used in various industrial and medical purposes is released into the aquatic environment. However, there are few aquatic toxicological studies addressing environmental effects of Gd which remains unknown in aquatic animals. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of GdCl₃ and a gadolinium-based MRI contrast agent (Omniscan), in zebra mussels after 28 days through a multibiomarker approach. Data revealed that after GdCl₃ exposure, the mRNA level of metallothionein (MT) was modulated, those of cytochrome c oxidase (CO1) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were increased, while gene expressions of catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) were downregulated. Furthermore, neither lipoperoxidation (LPO) nor genotoxicity were detected but only a decrease in the cyclooxygenase (COX) activity was observed. In addition, a significant correlation was found between biomarkers and bioaccumulated Gd, suggesting that mitochondrial and anti-inflammatory pathways were triggered with GdCl₃. By opposition, the contrasting agent formulation induced downregulation of SOD, CAT, GST and CO1, a decrease in the level of LPO and an increase in the GST and COX activities. This suggests that the chelated form of Gd did not promote reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and exhibits antioxidant and proinflammatory effects in mussels. Therefore, this study revealed that ionic and the chelated form of Gd influence different cellular pathways to initiate cellular changes.

The gadolinium-based contrast agent Omniscan® promotes in vitro fibroblast survival through in situ precipitation

The current study aims to explore how the gadolinium (Gd)-based contrast agent (GBCA) Omniscan® enhanced cell viability of murine fibroblasts. The results of scanning electron microscopy showed that Omniscan® can precipitate in cell culture media and deposit on cell membranes. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated the presence of Gd and phosphates in the agglomerated particles. By filtering the Omniscan®-containing medium through a 220 nm filter, it can be clearly found that the increased cell viability should be mainly attributed to the insoluble species of gadolinium rather than to chelated gadolinium. Moreover, the effects of other gadolinium-based contrast agents, Magnevist® and Dotarem®, were compared with that of Omniscan®. It is noted that the three contrast agents differed in their ability to induce cell viability, which is possibly ascribed to the different chemical stabilities of gadolinium chelates as demonstrated by the attenuation in cell growth upon the addition of excess ligands to the compounds. The results of flow cytometry analysis also showed that Omniscan® can promote cell growth via an increase in the S-phase cell population as evidenced by the elevated levels of cell cycle associated proteins cyclin D, cyclin A and the phosphorylated Rb protein. Furthermore, our results revealed that integrin-mediated signaling may play an important role in both Omniscan® and Magnevist®-enhanced focal adhesion formation since the blockade of integrins decreased the level of ERK phosphorylation induced by the two GBCAs. Taken together, these data suggested that in situ gadolinium phosphate precipitation formation mediated Omniscan®-promoted fibroblast survival, which is similar to that of gadolinium chloride. It was demonstrated that the application of GBCAs with more stable thermodynamic stability may cause less dissociation of the gadolinium ion and thus resulted in less precipitation, finally leading to lower occurrence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. The obtained results would also be helpful for the development of safe gadolinium-based contrast agents.

Interaction of Gd-DTPA with phosphate and phosphite: toward the reaction intermediate in nephrogenic systemic fibrosis

A commercially used gadolinium based contrast agent Gd-DTPA was substituted by phosphate and phosphite to form K₆[Gd₂(DTPA)₂(HPO₄)]·10H₂O and K₆[Gd₂(DTPA)₂(HPO₃)]·7H₂O respectively. Their analogous lanthanum complies are compared. These results are related to NSF formation.

Lanthanides inhibit adipogenesis with promotion of cell proliferation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes

Lanthanides are widely used in various fields for industrial, agricultural and medical purposes. They have also been used in Chinese agriculture either as fertilizers in plant production or as performance-enhancers in animal nutrition for many years. In view of their possible application for growth enhancing purposes and new medical applications, detailed information on how lanthanides influence physiological processes in biological systems is indispensable. In the present work, the effects of lanthanides (LaCl3, CeCl3 and GdCl3) on cell proliferation and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were evaluated. The results demonstrate that lanthanides inhibit adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, evidenced by decreased triglyceride content and expression of C/EBPα and PPARγ. Simultaneously, the results show that lanthanides can promote cell proliferation during the different stages of differentiation. Firstly, prior to the addition of differentiation inducers (MDI), all the three types of lanthanides resulted in a significant increase of cell growth. Secondly, during the mitotic clonal expansion (MCE) process, GdCl3, as a representative compound, is able to promote cell-cycle entry into the S phase and levels of cell cycle-regulating proteins. Third, at the late stage of the terminal differentiation, on day 8, in the presence of GdCl3, cells exhibited higher levels of G1/S regulatory proteins and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In addition, GdCl3 caused stronger sustained ERK activation during the differentiation process of 3T3-L1 cells. The present study demonstrates that lanthanides may modulate lipid metabolism by inhibition of adipocyte differentiation. The sustained activation of the ERK pathway might be responsible for their inhibition of differentiation and a possible link between their pro-proliferative ability and inhibition of the differentiation process is indicated.