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Tong J, Ang LC, Williams B, Furukawa Y, Fitzmaurice P, Guttman M, Boileau I, Hornykiewicz O, Kish SJ. Low levels of astroglial markers in Parkinson's disease: relationship to α-synuclein accumulation. Neurobiol Dis 2015; 82:243-253. [PMID: 26102022 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2015.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2015] [Revised: 06/04/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Although gliosis is a normal response to brain injury, reports on the extent of astrogliosis in the degenerating substantia nigra in Parkinson's disease (PD) are conflicting. It has also been recently suggested that accumulation of nigral α-synuclein in this disorder might suppress astrocyte activation which in turn could exacerbate the degenerative process. This study examined brain protein levels (intact protein, fragments, and aggregates, if any) of astroglial markers and their relationship to α-synuclein in PD and in the positive control parkinson-plus conditions multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Autopsied brain homogenates of patients with PD (n=10), MSA (n=11), PSP (n=11) and matched controls (n=10) were examined for the astroglial markers glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, and heat shock protein-27 (Hsp27) by quantitative immunoblotting. As expected, both MSA (putamen>substantia nigra>caudate>frontal cortex) and PSP (substantia nigra>caudate>putamen, frontal cortex) showed widespread but regionally specific pattern of increased immunoreactivity of the markers, in particular for the partially proteolyzed fragments (all three) and aggregates (GFAP). In contrast, immunoreactivity of the three markers was largely normal in PD in brain regions examined with the exception of trends for variably increased levels of cleaved vimentin in substantia nigra and frontal cortex. In patients with PD, GFAP levels in the substantia nigra correlated inversely with α-synuclein accumulation whereas the opposite was true for MSA. Our biochemical findings of generally normal protein levels of astroglial markers in substantia nigra of PD, and negative correlation with α-synuclein concentration, are consistent with some recent neuropathology reports of mild astroglial response and with the speculation that astrogliosis might be suppressed in this disorder by excessive α-synuclein accumulation. Should astrogliosis protect, to some extent, the degenerating substantia nigra from damage, therapeutics aimed at normalization of astrocyte reaction in PD could be helpful.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchao Tong
- Human Brain Laboratory, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Addiction Imaging Research Group, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Lee-Cyn Ang
- Division of Neuropathology, London Health Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Belinda Williams
- Addiction Imaging Research Group, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Yoshiaki Furukawa
- Department of Neurology, Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Center, and Faculty of Medicine, University & Post Graduate University of Juntendo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Mark Guttman
- Centre for Movement Disorders, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Isabelle Boileau
- Addiction Imaging Research Group, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Oleh Hornykiewicz
- Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 4, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
| | - Stephen J Kish
- Human Brain Laboratory, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Tong J, Fitzmaurice P, Furukawa Y, Schmunk GA, Wickham DJ, Ang LC, Sherwin A, McCluskey T, Boileau I, Kish SJ. Is brain gliosis a characteristic of chronic methamphetamine use in the human? Neurobiol Dis 2014; 67:107-18. [PMID: 24704312 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.03.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2014] [Revised: 03/20/2014] [Accepted: 03/25/2014] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Animal data show that high doses of the stimulant drug methamphetamine can damage brain dopamine neurones; however, it is still uncertain whether methamphetamine, at any dose, is neurotoxic to human brain. Since gliosis is typically associated with brain damage and is observed in animal models of methamphetamine exposure, we measured protein levels (intact protein and fragments, if any) of markers of microgliosis (glucose transporter-5, human leukocyte antigens HLA-DRα [TAL.1B5] and HLA-DR/DQ/DPβ [CR3/43]) and astrogliosis (glial fibrillary acidic protein, vimentin, and heat shock protein-27) in homogenates of autopsied brain of chronic methamphetamine users (n=20) and matched controls (n=23). Intact protein levels of all markers were, as expected, elevated (+28%-1270%, P<0.05) in putamen of patients with the neurodegenerative disorder multiple system atrophy (as a positive control) as were concentrations of fragments of glial fibrillary acidic protein, vimentin and heat shock protein-27 (+170%-4700%, P<0.005). In contrast, intact protein concentrations of the markers were normal in dopamine-rich striatum (caudate, putamen) and in the frontal cortex of the drug users. However, striatal levels of cleaved vimentin and heat shock protein-27 were increased (by 98%-211%, P<0.05), with positive correlations (r=0.41-0.60) observed between concentrations of truncated heat shock protein-27 and extent of dopamine loss (P=0.006) and levels of lipid peroxidation products 4-hydroxynonenal (P=0.046) and malondialdehyde (P=0.11). Our failure to detect increased intact protein levels of commonly used markers of microgliosis and astrogliosis could be explained by exposure to methamphetamine insufficient to cause a toxic process associated with overt gliosis; however, about half of the subjects had died of drug intoxication suggesting that "high" drug doses might have been used. Alternatively, drug tolerance to toxic effects might have occurred in the subjects, who were all chronic methamphetamine users. Nevertheless, the finding of above-normal levels of striatal vimentin and heat shock protein-27 fragments (which constituted 10-28% of the intact protein), for which changes in the latter correlated with those of several markers possibly suggestive of damage, does suggest that some astrocytic "disturbance" had occurred, which might in principle be related to methamphetamine neurotoxicity or to a neuroplastic remodeling process. Taken together, our neurochemical findings do not provide strong evidence for either marked microgliosis or astrogliosis in at least a subgroup of human recreational methamphetamine users who used the drug chronically and shortly before death. However, a logistically more difficult quantitative histopathological study is needed to confirm whether glial changes occur or do not occur in brain of human methamphetamine (and amphetamine) users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchao Tong
- Human Brain Laboratory, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Addiction Imaging Research Group, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Paul Fitzmaurice
- ESR Institute of Environmental Science & Research, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Yoshiaki Furukawa
- Department of Neurology, Juntendo Tokyo Koto Geriatric Medical Center, and Faculty of Medicine, University & Postgraduate University of Juntendo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Lee-Cyn Ang
- Division of Neuropathology, London Health Science Centre, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Allan Sherwin
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Tina McCluskey
- Human Brain Laboratory, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Isabelle Boileau
- Addiction Imaging Research Group, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Stephen J Kish
- Human Brain Laboratory, Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Brennan K, Johnstone A, Fitzmaurice P, Lea R, Schenk S. Chronic benzylpiperazine (BZP) exposure produces behavioral sensitization and cross-sensitization to methamphetamine (MA). Drug Alcohol Depend 2007; 88:204-13. [PMID: 17125936 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2006.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2006] [Revised: 10/12/2006] [Accepted: 10/23/2006] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Like other psychostimulant drugs, acute exposure to benzylpiperazine (BZP) increases dopaminergic neurotransmission, producing hyperactivity and stereotypy. The consequences of repeated BZP exposure have not however been investigated. The effects of acute and repeated BZP and methamphetamine (MA) exposure on locomotor activity and stereotypy were measured in order to determine whether there was sensitization and cross-sensitization between these two psychostimulant drugs. METHODS The effects of acute treatment with MA (0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (IP)) or BZP (0.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0 and 40.0 mg/kg, IP) on locomotor activity and stereotypy were determined. Effects of repeated exposure were determined in other groups that received five daily injections of 2.0 mg/kg MA, 20.0 mg/kg BZP or vehicle. Following a 2-day withdrawal period, rats from each treatment group received either a low dose MA (0.5 mg/kg) or BZP (10.0 mg/kg). RESULTS MA and BZP produced dose-dependent hyperactivity and stereotypy. Repeated MA and BZP resulted in a potentiated locomotor but not stereotypy response. Following the withdrawal period, MA pretreated rats exhibited a sensitized locomotor and stereotypy response to the low dose MA and a conditioned response to saline. BZP pretreated rats also demonstrated a sensitized locomotor response to the low dose of BZP and MA. CONCLUSIONS The present findings indicate that repeated exposure to BZP results in sensitization and cross-sensitization to MA.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Brennan
- Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
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Mirecki A, Fitzmaurice P, Ang L, Kalasinsky KS, Peretti FJ, Aiken SS, Wickham DJ, Sherwin A, Nobrega JN, Forman HJ, Kish SJ. Brain antioxidant systems in human methamphetamine users. J Neurochem 2004; 89:1396-408. [PMID: 15189342 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2004.02434.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Animal data suggest that the widely abused psychostimulant methamphetamine can damage brain dopamine neurones by causing dopamine-dependent oxidative stress; however, the relevance to human methamphetamine users is unclear. We measured levels of key antioxidant defences [reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) glutathione, six major GSH system enzymes, copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), uric acid] that are often altered after exposure to oxidative stress, in autopsied brain of human methamphetamine users and matched controls. Changes in the total (n = 20) methamphetamine group were limited to the dopamine-rich caudate (the striatal subdivision with the most severe dopamine loss) in which only activity of CuZnSOD (+ 14%) and GSSG levels (+ 58%) were changed. In the six methamphetamine users with severe (- 72 to - 97%) caudate dopamine loss, caudate CuZnSOD activity (+ 20%) and uric acid levels (+ 63%) were increased with a trend for decreased (- 35%) GSH concentration. Our data suggest that brain levels of many antioxidant systems are preserved in methamphetamine users and that GSH depletion, commonly observed during severe oxidative stress, might occur only with severe dopamine loss. Increased CuZnSOD and uric acid might reflect compensatory responses to oxidative stress. Future studies are necessary to establish whether these changes are associated with oxidative brain damage in human methamphetamine users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Mirecki
- Human Neurochemical Pathology Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1R8
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Moszczynska A, Fitzmaurice P, Ang L, Kalasinsky KS, Schmunk GA, Peretti FJ, Aiken SS, Wickham DJ, Kish SJ. Why is parkinsonism not a feature of human methamphetamine users? Brain 2004; 127:363-70. [PMID: 14645148 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awh046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
For more than 50 years, methamphetamine has been a widely used stimulant drug taken to maintain wakefulness and performance and, in high doses, to cause intense euphoria. Animal studies show that methamphetamine can cause short-term and even persistent depletion of brain levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. However, the clinical features of Parkinson's disease, a dopamine deficiency disorder of the brain, do not appear to be characteristic of human methamphetamine users. We compared dopamine levels in autopsied brain tissue of chronic methamphetamine users with those in patients with Parkinson's disease and in a control group. Mean dopamine levels in the methamphetamine users were reduced more in the caudate (-61%) than in the putamen (-50%), a pattern opposite to that of Parkinson's disease. Some methamphetamine users had severely decreased dopamine levels, within the parkinsonian range, in the caudate (up to 97% dopamine loss) but not in the putamen. As the putamen and caudate subserve aspects of motor and cognitive function, respectively, our data suggest that methamphetamine users are not parkinsonian because dopamine levels are not sufficiently decreased in the motor component of the striatum. However, the near-total reduction in the caudate could explain reports of cognitive disturbances, sometimes disabling, in some drug users, and suggests that treatment with dopamine substitution medication (e.g. levodopa) during drug rehabilitation might be helpful.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Moszczynska
- Human Neurochemical Pathology Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada
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Sanyal S, Wintle RF, Kindt KS, Nuttley WM, Arvan R, Fitzmaurice P, Bigras E, Merz DC, Hébert TE, van der Kooy D, Schafer WR, Culotti JG, Van Tol HHM. Dopamine modulates the plasticity of mechanosensory responses in Caenorhabditis elegans. EMBO J 2004; 23:473-82. [PMID: 14739932 PMCID: PMC1271763 DOI: 10.1038/sj.emboj.7600057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 153] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2003] [Accepted: 12/05/2003] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Dopamine-modulated behaviors, including information processing and reward, are subject to behavioral plasticity. Disruption of these behaviors is thought to support drug addictions and psychoses. The plasticity of dopamine-mediated behaviors, for example, habituation and sensitization, are not well understood at the molecular level. We show that in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a D1-like dopamine receptor gene (dop-1) modulates the plasticity of mechanosensory behaviors in which dopamine had not been implicated previously. A mutant of dop-1 displayed faster habituation to nonlocalized mechanical stimulation. This phenotype was rescued by the introduction of a wild-type copy of the gene. The dop-1 gene is expressed in mechanosensory neurons, particularly the ALM and PLM neurons. Selective expression of the dop-1 gene in mechanosensory neurons using the mec-7 promoter rescues the mechanosensory deficit in dop-1 mutant animals. The tyrosine hydroxylase-deficient C. elegans mutant (cat-2) also displays these specific behavioral deficits. These observations provide genetic evidence that dopamine signaling modulates behavioral plasticity in C. elegans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suparna Sanyal
- Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
| | - Richard F Wintle
- Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
| | - Katie S Kindt
- Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - William M Nuttley
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Rokhand Arvan
- Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
| | - Paul Fitzmaurice
- Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
| | - Eve Bigras
- Departément de Physiologie, Université de Montréal & Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - David C Merz
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Toronto & Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada
| | - Terence E Hébert
- Departément de Physiologie, Université de Montréal & Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Derek van der Kooy
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Joseph G Culotti
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Toronto & Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada
| | - Hubert H M Van Tol
- Departments of Psychiatry, Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto & Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
- Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, CAMH, 250 College Street, Toronto ON M5T 1R8, Canada. Tel.: +1 416 979 4661; Fax: +1 416 979 4663; E-mail:
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Shaw I, Berry C, Lane E, Fitzmaurice P, Clarke D, Holden A. Studies on the putative interactions between the organophosphorus insecticide Phosmet and recombinant mouse PrP and its implication in the BSE epidemic. Vet Res Commun 2002; 26:263-71. [PMID: 12184497 DOI: 10.1023/a:1016030423307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that exposure of cattle to the ectoparasiticide Phosmet in the 1980s caused a conformational change in the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) to form the BSE prion (PrP(SC)), which initiated the epidemic of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Recombinant mouse cellular prion (r[mouse]PrP(C)) was exposed to the organophosphorus pesticide Phosmet in vitro and the conformation of the prion before and after exposure was monitored using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, utilizing synchrotron radiation at the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CLRC) facilities at Daresbury, UK. Metabolites of Phosmet, generated in situ by rat microsomes, were investigated in the same way, to determine whether they might initiate the conformational change due to their high chemical reactivity. Our studies showed that exposure of r[mouse]PrP(C) to Phosmet or microsomes-generated metabolites of Phosmet did not result in the conformational change in the protein from alpha-helix to beta-pleated sheet that is characteristic of the PrP(C) to PrP(SC) conversion and, therefore, Phosmet is very unlikely to have initiated the BSE epidemic by a simple direct mechanism of conformational change in the prion protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Shaw
- Centre for Toxicology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK.
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