Lipid abnormalities in alpha/beta2-syntrophin null mice are independent from ABCA1

The syntrophins alpha (SNTA) and beta 2 (SNTB2) are molecular adaptor proteins shown to stabilize ABCA1, an essential regulator of HDL cholesterol. Furthermore, SNTB2 is involved in glucose stimulated insulin release. Hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia are characteristic features of the metabolic syndrome, a serious public health problem with rising prevalence. Therefore, it is important to understand the role of the syntrophins herein. Mice deficient for both syntrophins (SNTA/B2-/-) have normal insulin and glucose tolerance, hepatic ABCA1 protein and cholesterol. When challenged with a HFD, wild type and SNTA/B2-/- mice have similar weight gain, adiposity, serum and liver triglycerides. Hepatic ABCA1, serum insulin and insulin sensitivity are normal while glucose tolerance is impaired. Liver cholesterol is reduced, and expression of SREBP2 and HMG-CoA-R is increased in the knockout mice. Scavenger receptor-BI (SR-BI) protein is strongly diminished in the liver of SNTA/B2-/- mice while SR-BI binding protein NHERF1 is not changed and PDZK1 is even induced. Knock-down of SNTA, SNTB2 or both has no effect on hepatocyte SR-BI and PDZK1 proteins. Further, SR-BI levels are not reduced in brown adipose tissue of SNTA/B2-/- mice excluding that syntrophins directly stabilize SR-BI. SR-BI stability is regulated by MAPK and phosphorylated ERK2 is induced in the liver of the knock-out mice. Blockage of ERK activity upregulates hepatocyte SR-BI showing that increased MAPK activity contributes to low SR-BI. Sphingomyelin which is well described to regulate cholesterol metabolism is reduced in the liver and serum of the knock-out mice while the size of serum lipoproteins is not affected. Current data exclude a major function of these syntrophins in ABCA1 activity and insulin release but suggest a role in regulating glucose uptake, ERK and SR-BI levels, and sphingomyelin metabolism in obesity.

Acetylcholinesterase mobility and stability at the neuromuscular junction of living mice

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is an enzyme that terminates acetylcholine neurotransmitter function at the synaptic cleft of cholinergic synapses. However, the mechanism by which AChE number and density are maintained at the synaptic cleft is poorly understood. In this work, we used fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, photo-unbinding, and quantitative fluorescence imaging to investigate the surface mobility and stability of AChE at the adult innervated neuromuscular junction of living mice. In wild-type synapses, we found that nonsynaptic (perisynaptic and extrasynaptic) AChEs are mobile and gradually recruited into synaptic sites and that most of the trapped AChEs come from the perijunctional pool. Selective labeling of a subset of synaptic AChEs within the synapse by using sequential unbinding and relabeling with different colors of streptavidin followed by time-lapse imaging showed that synaptic AChEs are nearly immobile. At neuromuscular junctions of mice deficient in alpha-dystrobrevin, a component of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex, we found that the density and distribution of synaptic AChEs are profoundly altered and that the loss rate of AChE significantly increased. These results demonstrate that nonsynaptic AChEs are mobile, whereas synaptic AChEs are more stable, and that alpha-dystrobrevin is important for controlling the density and stability of AChEs at neuromuscular synapses.

Role of dystrophin and utrophin for assembly and function of the dystrophin glycoprotein complex in non-muscle tissue

The dystrophin glycoprotein complex (DGC) is a multimeric protein assembly associated with either the X-linked cytoskeletal protein dystrophin or its autosomal homologue utrophin. In striated muscle cells, the DGC links the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton and mediates three major functions: structural stability of the plasma membrane, ion homeostasis, and transmembrane signaling. Mutations affecting the DGC underlie major forms of congenital muscle dystrophies. The DGC is prominent also in the central and peripheral nervous system and in tissues with a secretory function or which form barriers between functional compartments, such as the blood-brain barrier, choroid plexus, or kidney. A considerable molecular heterogeneity arises from cell-specific expression of its constituent proteins, notably short C-terminal isoforms of dystrophin. Experimentally, the generation of mice carrying targeted gene deletions affecting the DGC has clarified the interdependence of DGC proteins for assembly of the complex and revealed its importance for brain development and regulation of the 'milieu intérieur. Here, we focus on recent studies of the DGC in brain, blood-brain barrier and choroid plexus, retina, and kidney and discuss the role of dystrophin isoforms and utrophin for assembly of the complex in these tissues.

Cerebellar synaptic defects and abnormal motor behavior in mice lacking alpha- and beta-dystrobrevin

The dystrobrevins (alphaDB and betaDB) bind directly to dystrophin and are components of a transmembrane dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) that links the cytoskeleton to extracellular proteins in many tissues. We show here that alphaDB, betaDB, and dystrophin are all concentrated at a discrete subset of inhibitory synapses on the somata and dendrites of cerebellar Purkinje cells. Dystrophin is depleted from these synapses in mice lacking both alphaDB and betaDB, and DBs are depleted from these synapses in mice lacking dystrophin. In dystrophin mutants and alphaDB,betaDB double mutants, the size and number of GABA receptor clusters are decreased at cerebellar inhibitory synapses, and sensorimotor behaviors that reflect cerebellar function are perturbed. Synaptic and behavioral abnormalities are minimal in mice lacking either alphaDB or betaDB. Together, our results show that the DGC is required for proper maturation and function of a subset of inhibitory synapses, that DB is a key component of this DGC, and that interference with this DGC leads to behavioral abnormalities. We suggest that motor deficits in muscular dystrophy patients, which are their cardinal symptoms, may reflect not only peripheral derangements but also CNS defects.

Defects in neuromuscular junction structure in dystrophic muscle are corrected by expression of a NOS transgene in dystrophin-deficient muscles, but not in muscles lacking alpha- and beta1-syntrophins

Muscular dystrophies that arise from mutations of genes that encode proteins in the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) frequently involve defects in the structure of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). DGC mutations that cause NMJ defects typically cause a secondary loss of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) from the post-synaptic membrane. We tested the hypothesis that reduction of muscle-derived NO production causes NMJ defects in DGC mutants by analyzing the effect of modulating muscle NO production on NMJ structure in mutant and wild-type muscles. We found that nNOS null mutants, dystrophin-deficient mdx mice and alpha-syntrophin null mutants showed reductions in the concentration of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) at the post-synaptic membrane. Also, expression of a muscle-specific NOS transgene increased AChR concentration, which reflected an increase in both AChR expression and clustering. NOS transgene expression also increased the size of NMJs, and partially corrected defects in normal NMJ architecture that were observed in mdx and alpha-syntrophin null muscles. In addition, stimulation of AChR clustering in vitro by application of laminin or VVA B4 lectin induced a 3-4-fold increase in NOS activity and increased AChR clustering that could be prevented by NOS inhibition. However, the partial rescue of NMJ structure by expression of a NOS transgene required the expression of alpha- or beta1-syntrophin at the NMJ; partial NMJ rescue was seen in the muscles of alpha-syntrophin mutants that expressed beta1-syntrophin, but no rescue was observed in muscles of alpha-syntrophin mutants that also lacked beta1-syntrophin. These findings show that NO promotes AChR expression and clustering in vivo and contributes to normal NMJ architecture. The results suggest that defects in NMJ structure that occur in some DGC mutants can result from the secondary loss of NOS from muscle.