Inverse Drug Screening of Bioelectric Signaling and Neurotransmitter Roles: Illustrated Using a Xenopus Tail Regeneration Assay

Identification of pharmacological inducers of a reversible hypometabolic state for whole organ preservation

Drugs that induce reversible slowing of metabolic and physiological processes would have great value for organ preservation, especially for organs with high susceptibility to hypoxia-reperfusion injury, such as the heart. Using whole-organism screening of metabolism, mobility, and development in Xenopus, we identified an existing drug, SNC80, that rapidly and reversibly slows biochemical and metabolic activities while preserving cell and tissue viability. Although SNC80 was developed as a delta opioid receptor activator, we discovered that its ability to slow metabolism is independent of its opioid modulating activity as a novel SNC80 analog (WB3) with almost 1000 times less delta opioid receptor binding activity is equally active. Metabolic suppression was also achieved using SNC80 in microfluidic human organs-on-chips, as well as in explanted whole porcine hearts and limbs, demonstrating the cross-species relevance of this approach and potential clinical relevance for surgical transplantation. Pharmacological induction of physiological slowing in combination with organ perfusion transport systems may offer a new therapeutic approach for tissue and organ preservation for transplantation, trauma management, and enhancing patient survival in remote and low-resource locations.

Aging as a loss of morphostatic information: A developmental bioelectricity perspective

Maintaining order at the tissue level is crucial throughout the lifespan, as failure can lead to cancer and an accumulation of molecular and cellular disorders. Perhaps, the most consistent and pervasive result of these failures is aging, which is characterized by the progressive loss of function and decline in the ability to maintain anatomical homeostasis and reproduce. This leads to organ malfunction, diseases, and ultimately death. The traditional understanding of aging is that it is caused by the accumulation of molecular and cellular damage. In this article, we propose a complementary view of aging from the perspective of endogenous bioelectricity which has not yet been integrated into aging research. We propose a view of aging as a morphostasis defect, a loss of biophysical prepattern information, encoding anatomical setpoints used for dynamic tissue and organ homeostasis. We hypothesize that this is specifically driven by abrogation of the endogenous bioelectric signaling that normally harnesses individual cell behaviors toward the creation and upkeep of complex multicellular structures in vivo. Herein, we first describe bioelectricity as the physiological software of life, and then identify and discuss the links between bioelectricity and life extension strategies and age-related diseases. We develop a bridge between aging and regeneration via bioelectric signaling that suggests a research program for healthful longevity via morphoceuticals. Finally, we discuss the broader implications of the homologies between development, aging, cancer and regeneration and how morphoceuticals can be developed for aging.

Morphoceuticals: perspectives for discovery of drugs targeting anatomical control mechanisms in regenerative medicine, cancer and aging

Morphoceuticals are a new class of interventions that target the setpoints of anatomical homeostasis for efficient, modular control of growth and form. Here, we focus on a subclass: electroceuticals, which specifically target the cellular bioelectrical interface. Cellular collectives in all tissues form bioelectrical networks via ion channels and gap junctions that process morphogenetic information, controlling gene expression and allowing cell networks to adaptively and dynamically control growth and pattern formation. Recent progress in understanding this physiological control system, including predictive computational models, suggests that targeting bioelectrical interfaces can control embryogenesis and maintain shape against injury, senescence and tumorigenesis. We propose a roadmap for drug discovery focused on manipulating endogenous bioelectric signaling for regenerative medicine, cancer suppression and antiaging therapeutics. Teaser: By taking advantage of the native problem-solving competencies of cells and tissues, a new kind of top-down approach to biomedicine becomes possible. Bioelectricity offers an especially tractable interface for interventions targeting the software of life for regenerative medicine applications.

Chemical Screening and Toxicity Testing

The chemical space is vast, encompassing potentially billions of natural and synthetic molecules, which are for the most part uncharted with regard to their pharmaceutical, therapeutic, or toxicological potential. Determining the biological efficacy or harm of these chemicals presents both an enormous opportunity and a challenge to society. Chemical screening is the first step in development of novel therapeutical agents. The process typically involves searching chemical libraries for small organic molecules that have biological activities that might be useful in addressing pathological conditions for which there are unmet medical needs. Toxicology, in contrast, investigates effects of chemicals that are harmful to human or animal health or the environment in general. Xenopus is an exceptionally effective animal model system for assaying both potential therapeutic and toxicological effects. Here I introduce protocols that detail how Xenopus extracts, embryos, and tadpoles can be used in chemical screening and toxicity testing.

Enhancers of Host Immune Tolerance to Bacterial Infection Discovered Using Linked Computational and Experimental Approaches

Current therapeutic strategies against bacterial infections focus on reduction of pathogen load using antibiotics; however, stimulation of host tolerance to infection in the presence of pathogens might offer an alternative approach. Computational transcriptomics and Xenopus laevis embryos are used to discover infection response pathways, identify potential tolerance inducer drugs, and validate their ability to induce broad tolerance. Xenopus exhibits natural tolerance to Acinetobacter baumanii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, whereas Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce lethal infections. Transcriptional profiling leads to definition of a 20-gene signature that discriminates between tolerant and susceptible states, as well as identification of a more active tolerance response to gram negative compared to gram positive bacteria. Gene pathways associated with active tolerance in Xenopus, including some involved in metal ion binding and hypoxia, are found to be conserved across species, including mammals, and administration of a metal chelator (deferoxamine) or a HIF-1α agonist (1,4-DPCA) in embryos infected with lethal A. hydrophila increased survival despite high pathogen load. These data demonstrate the value of combining the Xenopus embryo infection model with computational multiomics analyses for mechanistic discovery and drug repurposing to induce host tolerance to bacterial infections.

Aquatic Freshwater Vertebrate Models of Epilepsy Pathology: Past Discoveries and Future Directions for Therapeutic Discovery

Epilepsy is an international public health concern that greatly affects patients’ health and lifestyle. About 30% of patients do not respond to available therapies, making new research models important for further drug discovery. Aquatic vertebrates present a promising avenue for improved seizure drug screening and discovery. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) and African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis and tropicalis) are increasing in popularity for seizure research due to their cost-effective housing and rearing, similar genome to humans, ease of genetic manipulation, and simplicity of drug dosing. These organisms have demonstrated utility in a variety of seizure-induction models including chemical and genetic methods. Past studies with these methods have produced promising data and generated questions for further applications of these models to promote discovery of drug-resistant seizure pathology and lead to effective treatments for these patients.

Rewiring Endogenous Bioelectric Circuits in the Xenopus laevis Embryo Model

Embryogenesis, as well as regeneration, is increasingly recognized to be orchestrated by an interplay of transcriptional and bioelectric networks. Spatiotemporal patterns of resting potentials direct the size, shape, and locations of numerous organ primordia during patterning. These bioelectrical properties are established by the function of ion channels and pumps that set voltage potentials of individual cells, and gap junctions (electrical synapses) that enable physiological states to propagate across tissue networks. Functional experiments to probe the roles of bioelectrical states can be carried out by targeting endogenous ion channels during development. Here, we describe protocols, optimized for the highly tractable Xenopus laevis embryo, for molecular genetic targeting of ion channels and connexins based on CRISPR, and monitoring of resting potential states using voltage-sensing fluorescent dye. Similar strategies can be adapted to other model species.

Endogenous Bioelectrics in Development, Cancer, and Regeneration: Drugs and Bioelectronic Devices as Electroceuticals for Regenerative Medicine

A major frontier in the post-genomic era is the investigation of the control of coordinated growth and three-dimensional form. Dynamic remodeling of complex organs in regulative embryogenesis, regeneration, and cancer reveals that cells and tissues make decisions that implement complex anatomical outcomes. It is now essential to understand not only the genetics that specifies cellular hardware but also the physiological software that implements tissue-level plasticity and robust morphogenesis. Here, we review recent discoveries about the endogenous mechanisms of bioelectrical communication among non-neural cells that enables them to cooperate in vivo. We discuss important advances in bioelectronics, as well as computational and pharmacological tools that are enabling the taming of biophysical controls toward applications in regenerative medicine and synthetic bioengineering.

Toward Decoding Bioelectric Events in Xenopus Embryogenesis: New Methodology for Tracking Interplay Between Calcium and Resting Potentials In Vivo

Although chemical signaling during embryogenesis is readily addressed by a plethora of available techniques, the developmental functions of ionic signaling are still poorly understood. It is increasingly realized that bioelectric events in nonneural cells are critical for pattern regulation, but their study has been hampered by difficulties in monitoring and manipulating them in vivo. Recent developments in visualizing electrical signaling dynamics in the field of neuroscience have facilitated functional experiments that reveal instructive developmental bioelectric signals. However, there is a pressing need for additional tools to explore time-dependent ionic signaling to understand complex endogenous dynamics. Here, we present methodological advances, including 4D imaging and data analysis, for improved tracking of calcium flux in the Xenopus laevis embryo, lowering the barrier for in vivo physiology work in this important model system. Using these techniques, we investigated the relationship between bioelectric ion channel activity and calcium, finding that cell hyperpolarization and depolarization both induce persistent static elevation of cytoplasmic calcium levels that fade over developmental time. These calcium changes correlate with increased cell mobility in early embryos and abnormal craniofacial morphology in later embryos. We thus highlight membrane potential modulation as a tractable tool for modulation of signaling cascades that rely on calcium as a transduction mechanism. The methods we describe facilitate the study of important novel aspects of developmental physiology, are extendable to numerous classes of existing and forthcoming fluorescent physiological reporters, and establish highly accessible, inexpensive protocols for their investigation.

Effects of Ivermectin Exposure on Regeneration of D. dorotocephala Planaria: Exploiting Human-Approved Ion Channel Drugs as Morphoceuticals

Transformative applications in regenerative medicine await increased control of processes implementing repair and remodeling of complex living structures. Recent work reveals ion channel drugs as a powerful toolkit for modulating endogenous bioelectric circuits that control growth and form in vivo and in vitro. It is therefore especially important to develop assays in model systems that will enable the testing of these "morphoceuticals"-compounds with predictable effects on anatomical structure. The regenerative planaria are an ideal model system for this purpose. Several studies have shown a role for bioelectric signaling in planarian regeneration, but these have focused on Dugesia japonica and Schmidtea mediterranea. It is not known how the alterations of ion channel activity would affect regeneration in other species of planaria-an important aspect of building robust computational models of bioelectric circuits. Here, the effect of ivermectin (IVM), a chloride channel opener drug commonly used to combat heartworm is tested, on regeneration in a new species of planaria: Dugesia dorotocephala. Exposure to IVM during regeneration results in patterning abnormalities, such as bifurcated tails with partial heads, as well as delayed regeneration. These data extend our understanding of the effects of human-approved ion channel drugs on regenerative processes.