Wavelength-specific negatively phototactic responses of the burrowing mayfly larvae Ephoron virgo

Mayflies are typically negatively phototactic during larval development, while their adults possess positive phototaxis. However, no extensive research was made about the wavelength dependence of phototaxis in any mayfly larvae. We measured the repellency rate of Ephoron virgo larvae to light as a function of wavelength in the 368 - 743 nm spectral range. We established that the magnitude of repellence increased with decreasing wavelength and the maximal responses were elicited by 400 nm violet light. This wavelength dependence of phototaxis is similar to the recently reported spectral sensitivity of positive phototaxis of the twilight-swarming E. virgo adults. Negative phototaxis not only facilitates evading predation, avoidance of the blue-violet spectral range could promote the larvae to withdraw towards the river midline in the case of drop in the water level, when the underwater light becomes enriched with shorter wavelengths due to the decreasing depth of overhead river water.

Inflammasome activation in peritumoral astrocytes is a key player in breast cancer brain metastasis development

Inflammasomes, primarily responsible for the activation of IL-1β, have emerged as critical regulators of the tumor microenvironment. By using in vivo and in vitro brain metastasis models, as well as human samples to study the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) brain metastases, we found NLRP3 inflammasome components and IL-1β to be highly and specifically expressed in peritumoral astrocytes. Soluble factors from TNBC cells induced upregulation and activation of NLRP3 and IL-1β in astrocytes, while astrocyte-derived mediators augmented the proliferation of metastatic cells. In addition, inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activity using MCC950 or dampening the downstream effect of IL-1β prevented the proliferation increase in cancer cells. In vivo, MCC950 reduced IL-1β expression in peritumoral astrocytes, as well as the levels of inflammasome components and active IL-1β. Most importantly, significantly retarded growth of brain metastatic tumors was observed in mice treated with MCC950. Overall, astrocytes contribute to TNBC progression in the brain through activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and consequent IL-1β release. We conclude that pharmacological targeting of inflammasomes may become a novel strategy in controlling brain metastatic diseases.

A unified qualitative-quantitative method to evaluate the impact of being a near-peer health educator

 

Grasping the complexity of public health interventions is of increasing interest. Program evaluation may involve previously known and unknown variables; the former are best explored with quantitative, the latter with qualitative methods. As part of the impact evaluation of the Balassagyarmat Health Education Program (BEP), a near-peer education intervention targeting adolescents from a disadvantaged region of Hungary, we aimed to understand the complex effects of being an educator on medical students’ knowledge about the biopsychosocial model of health. Thus, we developed a unified method that enables us to conduct an exploratory study on the effects of our intervention, then quantify and model that qualitative data. We started the method design with literature review and consultations with methodological and public health experts. We then refined the research questions based on a focus-group discussion held with 6 peer educators. After a set of pilot-interviews, we chose simulation interviewing as our knowledge elicitation procedure, then finalized the protocol with the help of additional piloting. In this unified method, simulation interviews are administered to peer educators and aligned controls, and cognitive task analysis is performed with the help of visual stimuli. Codes are developed inductively and, along with segmentation procedures, applied deductively to the entire dataset via the Reproducible Open Coding Kit. Resulting quantified narratives are further processed with Epistemic Network Analysis. The relative frequency of code co-occurrence in each segment is modelled with networks enabling the qualitative and statistical comparison of data between subsamples. Building on the benefits of qualitative and quantitative approaches, this method offers a complex evaluation of the impact of health education interventions. By strengthening the methods of program evaluation we aim to facilitate the development of more effective interventions.

Key messages

• Qualitative and quantitative methods can be unified in program evaluation to promote a deeper understanding of the complexity in public health interventions.

• Cognitive task analysis as a knowledge elicitation procedure can be used for the impact evaluation of health education programs.

Spectral sensitivity transition in the compound eyes of a twilight-swarming mayfly and its visual ecological implications

Aquatic insect species that leave the water after larval development, such as mayflies, have to deal with extremely different visual environments in their different life stages. Measuring the spectral sensitivity of the compound eyes of the virgin mayfly (Ephoron virgo) resulted in differences between the sensitivity of adults and larvae. Larvae were primarily green-, while adults were mostly UV-sensitive. The sensitivity of adults and larvae was the same in the UV, but in the green spectral range, adults were 3.3 times less sensitive than larvae. Transmittance spectrum measurements of larval skins covering the eye showed that the removal of exuvium during emergence cannot explain the spectral sensitivity change of the eyes. Taking numerous sky spectra from the literature, the ratio of UV and green photons in the skylight was shown to be maximal for θ ≈ -13° solar elevation, which is in the θ_min = -14.7° and θ_max = -7.1° typical range of swarming that was established from webcam images of real swarmings. We suggest that the spectral sensitivity of both the larval and adult eyes are adapted to the optical environment of the corresponding life stages.

Motoneuronal inflammasome activation triggers excessive neuroinflammation and impedes regeneration after sciatic nerve injury

Background

Peripheral nerve injuries are accompanied by inflammatory reactions, over-activation of which may hinder recovery. Among pro-inflammatory pathways, inflammasomes are one of the most potent, leading to release of active IL-1β. Our aim was to understand how inflammasomes participate in central inflammatory reactions accompanying peripheral nerve injury.

Methods

After axotomy of the sciatic nerve, priming and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome was examined in cells of the spinal cord. Regeneration of the nerve was evaluated after coaptation using sciatic functional index measurements and retrograde tracing.

Results

In the first 3 days after the injury, elements of the NLRP3 inflammasome were markedly upregulated in the L4–L5 segments of the spinal cord, followed by assembly of the inflammasome and secretion of active IL-1β. Although glial cells are traditionally viewed as initiators of neuroinflammation, in this acute phase of inflammation, inflammasome activation was found exclusively in affected motoneurons of the ventral horn in our model. This process was significantly inhibited by 5-BDBD, a P2X4 receptor inhibitor and MCC950, a potent NLRP3 inhibitor. Although at later time points the NLRP3 protein was upregulated in microglia too, no signs of inflammasome activation were detected in these cells. Inhibition of inflammasome activation in motoneurons in the first days after nerve injury hindered development of microgliosis in the spinal cord. Moreover, P2X4 or inflammasome inhibition in the acute phase significantly enhanced nerve regeneration on both the morphological and the functional levels.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that the central reaction initiated by sciatic nerve injury starts with inflammasome activation in motoneurons of the ventral horn, which triggers a complex inflammatory reaction and activation of microglia. Inhibition of neuronal inflammasome activation not only leads to a significant reduction of microgliosis, but has a beneficial effect on the recovery as well.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12974-022-02427-9.

Stereoselective Direct N-Trifluoropropenylation of Heterocycles with a Hypervalent Iodonium Reagent

The availability and synthesis of fluorinated enamine derivatives such as N-(3,3,3-trifluoropropenyl)heterocycles are challenging, especially through direct functionalization of the heterocyclic scaffold. Herein, a stereoselective N-trifluoropropenylation method based on the use of a bench-stable trifluoropropenyl iodonium salt is described. This reagent enables the straightforward trifluoropropenylation of various N-heterocycles under mild reaction conditions, providing trifluoromethyl enamine type moieties with high stereoselectivity and efficiency.

Neurovascular Inflammaging in Health and Disease

Aging is characterized by a chronic low-grade sterile inflammation dubbed as inflammaging, which in part originates from accumulating cellular debris. These, acting as danger signals with many intrinsic factors such as cytokines, are sensed by a network of pattern recognition receptors and other cognate receptors, leading to the activation of inflammasomes. Due to the inflammasome activity-dependent increase in the levels of pro-inflammatory interleukins (IL-1β, IL-18), inflammation is initiated, resulting in tissue injury in various organs, the brain and the spinal cord included. Similarly, in age-related diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), inflammasome activation is a prominent moment, in which cells of the neurovascular unit occupy a significant position. In this review, we discuss the inflammatory changes in normal aging and summarize the current knowledge on the role of inflammasomes and contributing mechanisms in common CNS diseases, namely Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and stroke, all of which occur more frequently with aging.

Pericyte-secreted IGF2 promotes breast cancer brain metastasis formation

Brain metastases are life-threatening complications of triple-negative breast cancer, melanoma, and a few other tumor types. Poor outcome of cerebral secondary tumors largely depends on the microenvironment formed by cells of the neurovascular unit, among which pericytes are the least characterized. By using in vivo and in vitro techniques and human samples, here we show that pericytes play crucial role in the development of metastatic brain tumors by directly influencing key steps of the development of the disease. Brain pericytes had a prompt chemoattractant effect on breast cancer cells and established direct contacts with them. By secreting high amounts of extracellular matrix proteins, pericytes enhanced adhesion of both melanoma and triple-negative cancer cells, which might be particularly important in the exclusive perivascular growth of these tumor cells. In addition, pericytes secreted insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), which had a very significant pro-proliferative effect on mammary carcinoma, but not on melanoma cells. By inhibiting IGF2 signaling using silencing or picropodophyllin (PPP), we could block the proliferation-increasing effect of pericytes on breast cancer cells. Administration of PPP (a blood-brain barrier-permeable substance) significantly decreased the size of brain tumors in mice inoculated with triple-negative breast cancer cells. Taken together, our results indicate that brain pericytes have significant pro-metastatic features, especially in breast cancer. Our study underlines the importance of targeting pericytes and the IGF axis as potential strategies in brain metastatic diseases.

The Blood-Brain Barrier and Its Intercellular Junctions in Age-Related Brain Disorders

With age, our cognitive skills and abilities decline. Maybe starting as an annoyance, this decline can become a major impediment to normal daily life. Recent research shows that the neurodegenerative disorders responsible for age associated cognitive dysfunction are mechanistically linked to the state of the microvasculature in the brain. When the microvasculature does not function properly, ischemia, hypoxia, oxidative stress and related pathologic processes ensue, further damaging vascular and neural function. One of the most important and specialized functions of the brain microvasculature is the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which controls the movement of molecules between blood circulation and the brain parenchyma. In this review, we are focusing on tight junctions (TJs), the multiprotein complexes that play an important role in establishing and maintaining barrier function. After a short introduction of the cell types that modulate barrier function via intercellular communication, we examine how age, age related pathologies and the aging of the immune system affects TJs. Then, we review how the TJs are affected in age associated neurodegenerative disorders: Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Lastly, we summarize the TJ aspects of Huntington's disease and schizophrenia. Barrier dysfunction appears to be a common denominator in neurological disorders, warranting detailed research into the molecular mechanisms behind it. Learning the commonalities and differences in the pathomechanism of the BBB injury in different neurological disorders will predictably lead to development of new therapeutics that improve our life as we age.

Response of the neurovascular unit to brain metastatic breast cancer cells

Therapeutic resistance of cerebral secondary tumours largely depends on unique aspects linked to the neurovascular unit, especially cerebral endothelial cells and astrocytes. By using advanced microscopy techniques, here we explored novel mechanisms related to the neurovascular unit during extravasation and proliferation of triple negative breast cancer cells in the brain. Metastatic mammary carcinoma cells arrested and elongated within one hour in cerebral microvessels, but their number decreased by almost 80% in the first two days. Interestingly, malignant cells induced vasoconstriction and development of intraluminal endothelial plugs, which isolated invading cells from the circulation. During diapedesis - which usually took place on day four and five after inoculation of the tumour cells - continuity of cerebral endothelial tight junctions remained intact, indicating migration of cancer cells through the transcellular pathway. In addition, metastatic cells induced formation of multiluminal vessels and claudin-5-positive endothelial blebs. However, even severe endothelial blebbing could be reversed and the vessel morphology was restored shortly after the tumour cells completed transendothelial migration. Similar to neuro-inflammatory leukocytes, tumour cells migrated not only through the endothelial layer, but through the glia limitans perivascularis as well. Nevertheless, along with the growth of metastatic lesions by co-option of pre-existing capillaries, astrocytes and astrocyte end-feet were gradually expelled from the vessels to the border of the tumour. Taken together, we identified previously unknown mechanisms involved in the reaction of brain resident cells to invading breast cancer cells. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the complex cross-talk between tumour cells and host cells in the brain, which is essential for the identification of new therapeutic targets in this devastating disease.

Paracellular and transcellular migration of metastatic cells through the cerebral endothelium

Breast cancer and melanoma are among the most frequent cancer types leading to brain metastases. Despite the unquestionable clinical significance, important aspects of the development of secondary tumours of the central nervous system are largely uncharacterized, including extravasation of metastatic cells through the blood-brain barrier. By using transmission electron microscopy, here we followed interactions of cancer cells and brain endothelial cells during the adhesion, intercalation/incorporation and transendothelial migration steps. We observed that brain endothelial cells were actively involved in the initial phases of the extravasation by extending filopodia-like membrane protrusions towards the tumour cells. Melanoma cells tended to intercalate between endothelial cells and to transmigrate by utilizing the paracellular route. On the other hand, breast cancer cells were frequently incorporated into the endothelium and were able to migrate through the transcellular way from the apical to the basolateral side of brain endothelial cells. When co-culturing melanoma cells with cerebral endothelial cells, we observed N-cadherin enrichment at melanoma-melanoma and melanoma-endothelial cell borders. However, for breast cancer cells N-cadherin proved to be dispensable for the transendothelial migration both in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that breast cancer cells are more effective in the transcellular type of migration than melanoma cells.

Suppression of Hyperpolarization-Activated Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel Function in Thalamocortical Neurons Prevents Genetically Determined and Pharmacologically Induced Absence Seizures

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels and the Ih current they generate contribute to the pathophysiological mechanisms of absence seizures (ASs), but their precise role in neocortical and thalamic neuronal populations, the main components of the network underlying AS generation, remains controversial. In diverse genetic AS models, Ih amplitude is smaller in neocortical neurons and either larger or unchanged in thalamocortical (TC) neurons compared with nonepileptic strains. A lower expression of neocortical HCN subtype 1 channels is present in genetic AS-prone rats, and HCN subtype 2 knock-out mice exhibit ASs. Furthermore, whereas many studies have characterized Ih contribution to "absence-like" paroxysmal activity in vitro, no data are available on the specific role of cortical and thalamic HCN channels in behavioral seizures. Here, we show that the pharmacological block of HCN channels with the antagonist ZD7288 applied via reverse microdialysis in the ventrobasal thalamus (VB) of freely moving male Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats from Strasbourg decreases TC neuron firing and abolishes spontaneous ASs. A similar effect is observed on γ-hydroxybutyric acid-elicited ASs in normal male Wistar rats. Moreover, thalamic knockdown of HCN channels via virally delivered shRNA into the VB of male Stargazer mice, another genetic AS model, decreases spontaneous ASs and Ih-dependent electrophysiological properties of VB TC neurons. These findings provide the first evidence that block of TC neuron HCN channels prevents ASs and suggest that any potential anti-absence therapy that targets HCN channels should carefully consider the opposite role for cortical and thalamic Ih in the modulation of absence seizures.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels play critical roles in the fine-tuning of cellular and network excitability and have been suggested to be a key element of the pathophysiological mechanism underlying absence seizures. However, the precise contribution of HCN channels in neocortical and thalamic neuronal populations to these nonconvulsive seizures is still controversial. In the present study, pharmacological block and genetic suppression of HCN channels in thalamocortical neurons in the ventrobasal thalamic nucleus leads to a marked reduction in absence seizures in one pharmacological and two genetic rodent models of absence seizures. These results provide the first evidence that block of TC neuron HCN channels prevents absence seizures.

Design of Trifluoroalkenyl Iodonium Salts for a Hypervalency-Aided Alkenylation-Cyclization Strategy: Metal-Free Construction of Aziridine Rings

The synthesis of fluorinated compounds and their use as pharmaceutical ingredients or synthetic building blocks have been in the focus of chemical and medicinal research. However, the efficient synthesis of trifluoromethylated nitrogen heterocycles is sometimes challenging. Herein, we disclose a simple aziridination process that relies on the use of amines and novel alkenyl iodonium reagents for the synthesis of strained, trifluoromethylated heterocycles. With the utilization of a newly designed and bench-stable but highly reactive hypervalent alkenyl iodonium species, these three-membered-ring heterocyclic compounds can be efficiently constructed from simple amines under mild conditions in the absence of transition-metal catalysts. The special reactivity of the new trifluoropropenyl synthon towards nucleophilic centers could be exploited in more general cyclization and alkenylation reactions in the future.

Hexafluorosilicic Acid as a Novel Reagent for the Desilylation of Silylacetylenes: Application in Sequential Sonogashira Coupling and Click Reaction

Hexafluorosilicic acid was utilized as a novel, cheap, readily available, and environmentally benign alternative reagent for the desilylation of 1-trimethylsilylacetylenes. The applicability of the aqueous solution of the hexafluorosilicic acid was demonstrated in the sequential coupling of aryl halides and ethynyltrimethylsilane to afford internal acetylenes, benzofurans, and triazoles in one-pot Sonogashira–Sonogashira­ and Sonogashira–CuAAC reactions.

Mayflies are least attracted to vertical polarization: A polarotactic reaction helping to avoid unsuitable habitats

Like other aquatic insects, mayflies are positively polarotactic and locate water surfaces by means of the horizontal polarization of water-reflected light. However, may vertically polarized light also have implications for the swarming behaviour of mayflies? To answer this question, we studied in four field experiments the behavioural responses of Ephoron virgo and Caenis robusta mayflies to lamps emitting horizontally and vertically polarized and unpolarized light. In both species, unpolarized light induces positive phototaxis, horizontally polarized light elicits positive photo- and polarotaxis, horizontally polarized light is much more attractive than unpolarized light, and vertically polarized light is the least attractive if the stimulus intensities and spectra are the same. Vertically polarized light was the most attractive for C. robusta if its intensity was about two and five times higher than that of the unpolarized and horizontally polarized stimuli, respectively. We suggest that the mayfly behaviour observed in our experiments may facilitate the stability of swarming above water surfaces. Beside the open water surface reflecting horizontally polarized light, the shadow and mirror image of riparian vegetation at the edge of the water surface reflect weakly and non-horizontally (mainly vertically) polarized light. Due to their positive polarotaxis, flying mayflies remain continuously above the water surface, because they keep away from the unpolarized or non-horizontally polarizing edge regions (water surface and coast line) of water bodies. We also discuss how our findings can explain the regulation of mayfly colonization.