scholarly journals Oocyte growth and follicular development in KIT-deficient Fas-knockout mice

Reproduction ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Moniruzzaman ◽  
Kazuhiro Sakamaki ◽  
Yukiko Akazawa ◽  
Takashi Miyano

In mammals, oocyte growth and follicular development are known to be regulated by KIT, a tyrosine kinase receptor. Fas is a member of the death receptor family inducing apoptosis. Here, we investigated germ cell survival, oocyte growth and follicular development in KIT-deficient (Wv/Wv:Fas+/+), Fas-deficient (+/+:Fas−/−), and both KIT- and Fas-deficient (Wv/Wv:Fas−/−) mice during fetal and postnatal periods. Further, the ovaries of these mice were transplanted in immunodeficient mice to compare oocyte growth and follicular development under a condition isolated from the extraovarian effects of KIT- and Fas-deficiency. Higher numbers of germ cells were found in the fetal and postnatal ovaries of Fas-deficient mice than in the same-aged wild-type mice. In KIT-deficient mice, ovaries at 13 dayspostcoitum(dpc) contained 1106±72 (n=3) germ cells, but the ovaries contained no oocytes after birth. Twenty-one days after transplantation of the ovaries at 13 dpc, no oocytes/germ cells were found. A higher number of germ cells (3843±108;n=3) were observed in the Wv/Wv:Fas−/−genotypes than in Wv/Wv:Fas+/+mice at 13 dpc. Furthermore, Wv/Wv:Fas−/−mice contained 528±91 (n=3) oocytes at 2 days, and follicles developed to the antral stage at 14 days of age. After transplantation of fetal and neonatal ovaries from Wv/Wv:Fas−/−mice, increased numbers of growing oocytes and developing follicles were obtained compared with those in 14-day old ovariesin vivo. These results show that oocytes grow and follicles develop without KIT signaling, although KIT might be essential for the survival of germ cells/oocytes in mice.

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 254
Author(s):  
M. Moniruzzaman ◽  
K.O. Sakamaki ◽  
Y. Akazawa ◽  
T. Miyano

Growth factors and cytokines regulate survival and growth of mammalian oocytes via their cognate receptors. Among those receptors, KIT, a receptor tyrosine kinase, has been thought of as an essential molecule for growth and survival of oocytes and for follicular development. The defect of KIT-mediated signals leads to the loss of oocytes and impairment of follicular development. Fas is a member of the death receptor family inducing apoptosis; it expresses in the ovary. In a previous study (Sakata et al. 2003 Cell Death Differ. 10, 676–86), we generated KIT-deficient and Fas-knockout double mutant (Wv/Wv:Fas−/−) mice to study the relation between Fas and KIT signaling in germ cell apoptosis. To further understand the role of KIT in oocyte survival and follicular development, we examined the ovaries of Wv/Wv and Wv/Wv:Fas−/− in comparison to those of C57BL/6 (wild type) mice. We also examined the possibility of overcoming the deleterious effects of KIT deficiency by ovarian allotransplantation. One ovary of each mouse was fixed for immediate histological examination and the other was transplanted under the kidney capsule of a female SCID (severe combined immune deficiency) mouse. Ovaries and recovered grafts were fixed, embedded, serially sectioned at 5 μm, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined under a microscope. Oocytes were counted in every section where the nucleus was seen, avoiding double counting in adjacent sections. Mean (with standard deviation) numbers of oocytes per graft or ovary were compared using Student's t-test. At 13 days post-coitum (dpc), ovaries of Wv/Wv fetuses contained 1104.3 ± 118.8 (n = 4) germ cells which was significantly (P < 0.05) lower than those of wild-type mice. However, at 16 dpc (n = 6) and 2-days old (n = 6), ovaries did not contain any germ cells/oocytes. After allotransplantation of the ovaries (n = 6) from Wv/Wv fetuses (13 dpc) for 2 weeks, all of the germ cells disappeared. When the ovaries from 2-day-old Wv/Wv mice (n = 6) were allotransplanted for 12 days, no oocytes appeared. On the other hand, transplanted ovaries from C57BL/6 fetuses (13 dpc) contained 2162.0 ± 97.3 (n = 6) oocytes after 2 weeks. In those ovaries, 4.7 ± 1.6% follicles developed to secondary follicles which contained growing oocytes. Importantly, ovaries of 2-day-old Wv/Wv:Fas−/− mice (n = 4) contained 1936.0 ± 245.0 oocytes (64.0 ± 10.0% of wild-type mice), and 14-day-old mice (n = 4) still contained 911.3 ± 106.3 follicles in which 28.6 ± 6.0% and 11.4 ± 3.2% follicles developed to primary and secondary follicles, respectively. These results indicate that oocyte death due to KIT-deficiency can not be rescued by ovarian transplantation in SCID mice, and that the Fas-knockout condition partially prevents the death of oocytes induced by KIT-deficiency, and primordial follicles develop in this condition.


2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-171
Author(s):  
Anne M. Landau ◽  
Rosmarie Siegrist-Johnstone ◽  
Julie Desbarats

Objective: Fas (CD95), commonly categorised as a death receptor due to its well-defined role in apoptosis, can paradoxically also promote neuroprotection. We have previously found that defects in Fas signalling render mice highly susceptible to neural degeneration in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine mouse model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Decreased activity of the ubiquitin proteasome system and accumulation of protein aggregates are implicated in PD pathogenesis. Here, we investigate the relationship between Fas and ubiquitin proteasomal activity in neuronal cells.Methods: We performed proteasome assays in neuroblastoma cells and in midbrain cultures of wild-type and Fas-deficient mice.Results: Neuroblastoma cells upregulated proteasomal activity in response to an activating Fas antibody in vitro. Furthermore, neural tissue from Fas-deficient mice showed decreased proteasomal activity compared with the tissue from wild-type mice when exposed to a PD-inducing toxin in vivo.Conclusion: These findings suggest that mechanisms for Fas-mediated neuroprotection may include Fas-induced upregulation of proteasomal activity, and consequently less accumulation of toxic protein aggregates.


Reproduction ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 139 (5) ◽  
pp. 883-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuo Terada ◽  
Nobuhiko Ohno ◽  
Sei Saitoh ◽  
Yurika Saitoh ◽  
Masayuki Komada ◽  
...  

We previously reported that a membrane skeletal protein, 4.1G (also known as EPB41L2), is immunolocalized in mouse seminiferous tubules. In this study, the 4.1G immunolocalizaiton was precisely evaluated at various stages of the mouse seminiferous epithelial cycle with ‘in vivocryotechnique’ and also with pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopy in testicular tissues whose ultrastructures were well preserved with glycerol treatment before cryosectioning. In addition, 4.1G-deficient mice were produced, and the morphology of their seminiferous tubules was also evaluated. The 4.1G immunolocalization was different among stages, indicating that it was not only along cell membranes of Sertoli cells, but also those of spermatogonia and early spermatocytes. To confirm the 4.1G immunolocalization in germ cells,in vitroculture of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) was used for immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting analysis. In the cultured SSCs, 4.1G was clearly expressed and immunolocalized along cell membranes, especially at mutual attaching regions. In testicular tissues, cell adhesion molecule-1 (CADM1), an intramembranous adhesion molecule, was colocalized on basal parts of the seminiferous tubules and immunoprecipitated with 4.1G in the tissue lysate. Interestingly, in the 4.1G-deficient mice, histological manifestation of the seminiferous tubules was not different from that in wild-type mice, and the CADM1 was also immunolocalized in the same pattern as that in the wild-type. Moreover, the 4.1G-deficient male mice were fertile. These results were probably due to functional redundancy of unknown membrane skeletal molecules in germ cells. Thus, a novel membrane skeletal protein, 4.1G, was found in germ cells, and considering its interaction with CADM family, it probably has roles in attachment of both Sertoli–germ and germ–germ cells.


mBio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adria Carbo ◽  
Danyvid Olivares-Villagómez ◽  
Raquel Hontecillas ◽  
Josep Bassaganya-Riera ◽  
Rupesh Chaturvedi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe development of gastritis duringHelicobacter pyloriinfection is dependent on an activated adaptive immune response orchestrated by T helper (Th) cells. However, the relative contributions of the Th1 and Th17 subsets to gastritis and control of infection are still under investigation. To investigate the role of interleukin-21 (IL-21) in the gastric mucosa duringH. pyloriinfection, we combined mathematical modeling of CD4+T cell differentiation within vivomechanistic studies. We infected IL-21-deficient and wild-type mice withH. pyloristrain SS1 and assessed colonization, gastric inflammation, cellular infiltration, and cytokine profiles. ChronicallyH. pylori-infected IL-21-deficient mice had higherH. pyloricolonization, significantly less gastritis, and reduced expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines compared to these parameters in infected wild-type littermates. Thesein vivodata were used to calibrate anH. pyloriinfection-dependent, CD4+T cell-specific computational model, which then described the mechanism by which IL-21 activates the production of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and IL-17 during chronicH. pyloriinfection. The model predicted activated expression of T-bet and RORγt and the phosphorylation of STAT3 and STAT1 and suggested a potential role of IL-21 in the modulation of IL-10. Driven by our modeling-derived predictions, we found reduced levels of CD4+splenocyte-specifictbx21androrcexpression, reduced phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT3, and an increase in CD4+T cell-specific IL-10 expression inH. pylori-infected IL-21-deficient mice. Our results indicate that IL-21 regulates Th1 and Th17 effector responses during chronicH. pyloriinfection in a STAT1- and STAT3-dependent manner, therefore playing a major role controllingH. pyloriinfection and gastritis.IMPORTANCEHelicobacter pyloriis the dominant member of the gastric microbiota in more than 50% of the world’s population.H. pyloricolonization has been implicated in gastritis and gastric cancer, as infection withH. pyloriis the single most common risk factor for gastric cancer. Current data suggest that, in addition to bacterial virulence factors, the magnitude and types of immune responses influence the outcome of colonization and chronic infection. This study uses a combined computational and experimental approach to investigate how IL-21, a proinflammatory T cell-derived cytokine, maintains the chronic proinflammatory T cell immune response driving chronic gastritis duringH. pyloriinfection. This research will also provide insight into a myriad of other infectious and immune disorders in which IL-21 is increasingly recognized to play a central role. The use of IL-21-related therapies may provide treatment options for individuals chronically colonized withH. pylorias an alternative to aggressive antibiotics.


Blood ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 1703-1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Lluı́s ◽  
Josep Roma ◽  
Mònica Suelves ◽  
Maribel Parra ◽  
Gloria Aniorte ◽  
...  

Plasminogen activators urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) are extracellular proteases involved in various tissue remodeling processes. A requirement for uPA activity in skeletal myogenesis was recently demonstrated in vitro. The role of plasminogen activators in skeletal muscle regeneration in vivo in wild-type, uPA-deficient, and tPA-deficient mice is investigated here. Wild-type and tPA−/− mice completely repaired experimentally damaged skeletal muscle. In contrast, uPA−/− mice had a severe regeneration defect, with decreased recruitment of blood-derived monocytes to the site of injury and with persistent myotube degeneration. In addition, uPA-deficient mice accumulated fibrin in the degenerating muscle fibers; however, the defibrinogenation of uPA-deficient mice resulted in a correction of the muscle regeneration defect. A similar severe regeneration deficit with persistent fibrin deposition was also reproducible in plasminogen-deficient mice after injury, suggesting that fibrinolysis by uPA-mediated plasminogen activation plays a fundamental role in skeletal muscle regeneration. In conclusion, the uPA-plasmin system is identified as a critical component of the mammalian skeletal muscle regeneration process, possibly because it prevents intramuscular fibrin accumulation and contributes to the adequate inflammatory response after injury. These studies demonstrate the requirement of an extracellular proteolytic cascade during muscle regeneration in vivo.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina A.M. Arendt ◽  
Giannoula Ntaliarda ◽  
Vasileios Armenis ◽  
Danai Kati ◽  
Christin Henning ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTKRAS inhibitors perform inferior to other targeted drugs. To investigate a possible reason for this, we treated cancer cells with KRAS inhibitors deltarasin (targeting phosphodiesterase-δ), cysmethynil (targeting isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase), and AA12 (targeting KRASG12C), and silenced/overexpressed mutant KRAS using custom vectors. We show that KRAS-mutant tumor cells exclusively respond to KRAS blockade in vivo, because the oncogene co-opts host myeloid cells via a C-C-motif chemokine ligand 2/interleukin-1β signaling loop for sustained tumorigenicity. Indeed, KRAS-mutant tumors did not respond to deltarasin in Ccr2 and Il1b gene-deficient mice, but were deltarasin-sensitive in wild-type and Ccr2-deficient mice adoptively transplanted with wild-type murine bone marrow. A KRAS-dependent pro-inflammatory transcriptome was prominent in human cancers with high KRAS mutation prevalence and predicted poor survival. Hence the findings support that in vitro systems are suboptimal for anti-KRAS drug screens, and suggest that interleukin-1β blockade might be specific for KRAS-mutant cancers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Xiao ◽  
Vinay Sharma ◽  
Leila Toulabi ◽  
Xuyu Yang ◽  
Cheol Lee ◽  
...  

Abstract Stress causes release of glucocorticoids from the adrenals which then circulate to the brain. High concentrations glucocorticoid from chronic severe stress results in pathophysiology in the brain, including neuronal degeneration, cell death and cognitive dysfunction, leading to diseases such as Alzheimer Disease and Major Depressive Disorders. Neurotrophic/growth factors such as BDNF, NGF and NT3 have been linked to these pathological conditions. Carboxypeptidase E (CPE), a proneuropeptide/prohormone processing enzyme, also named neurotrophic factor-α1(NFα1) is highly expressed in the stress-vulnerable hippocampal CA3 neurons, and was shown to have neuroprotective activity from in vitro studies. Here we investigated if CPE-NFα1 functions in vivo, independent of its enzymatic activity, and the mechanism underlying its action. We generated knock-in mice expressing a non-enzymatic form of CPE, CPE-E342Q, but not wild-type CPE. The CPE-E342Q mice showed significantly decreased neuropeptide content and exhibited obesity, diabetes and infertility due to lack of prohormone processing activity, similar to CPE-KO mice. However, they showed no hippocampal CA3 degeneration, exhibited neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, and displayed normal spatial learning and memory, similar to CPE wild-type mice, after weaning stress; unlike CPE-KO mice which showed hippocampal CA3 neuronal degeneration and cognitive deficits. Binding studies showed that radiolabeled CPE bound hippocampal cell membrane specifically, in a saturable manner. Binding of CPE and CPE-E342Q to hippocampal neurons activated Erk signaling and pre-treatment with either of these proteins protected neurons against H2O2- or glutamate-induced neurotoxcity by increasing BCL2 expression. In vitro and in vivo inhibitor studies demonstrated that this neuroprotective effect was independent of tyrosine kinase receptor signaling. Taken together, the data provide evidence that CPE-NFα1 is a unique neurotrophic factor which acts through a non-tyrosine kinase receptor to activate Erk-BCL2 signaling to protect hippocampal CA3 neurons against stress-induced neurodegeneration and maintaining normal cognitive functions in mice.


2001 ◽  
Vol 280 (2) ◽  
pp. G291-G297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cameron W. Lush ◽  
Gediminas Cepinskas ◽  
William J. Sibbald ◽  
Peter R. Kvietys

In vitro, nitric oxide (NO) decreases leukocyte adhesion to endothelium by attenuating endothelial adhesion molecule expression. In vivo, lipopolysaccharide-induced leukocyte rolling and adhesion was greater in inducible NO synthase (iNOS)−/− mice than in wild-type mice. The objective of this study was to assess E- and P-selectin expression in the microvasculature of iNOS−/− and wild-type mice subjected to acute peritonitis by cecal ligation and perforation (CLP). E- and P-selectin expression were increased in various organs within the peritoneum of wild-type animals after CLP. This CLP-induced upregulation of E- and P-selectin was substantially reduced in iNOS−/− mice. Tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity was increased to a greater extent in the gut of wild-type than in iNOS−/− mice subjected to CLP. In the lung, the reduced expression of E-selectin in iNOS−/− mice was not associated with a decrease in MPO. Our findings indicate that NO derived from iNOS plays an important role in sepsis-induced increase in selectin expression in the systemic and pulmonary circulation. However, in iNOS−/− mice, sepsis-induced leukocyte accumulation is affected in the gut but not in the lungs.


1997 ◽  
Vol 186 (11) ◽  
pp. 1853-1863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Tang ◽  
Alexander Rosenkranz ◽  
Karel J.M. Assmann ◽  
Michael J. Goodman ◽  
Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos ◽  
...  

Mac-1 (αmβ2), a leukocyte adhesion receptor, has been shown in vitro to functionally interact with Fcγ receptors to facilitate immune complex (IC)–stimulated polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) functions. To investigate the relevance of Mac-1–FcγR interactions in IC-mediated injury in vivo, we induced a model of Fc-dependent anti–glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis in wild-type and Mac-1–deficient mice by the intravenous injection of anti-GBM antibody. The initial glomerular PMN accumulation was equivalent in Mac-1 null and wild-type mice, but thereafter increased in wild-type and decreased in mutant mice. The absence of Mac-1 interactions with obvious ligands, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and C3 complement, is not responsible for the decrease in neutrophil accumulation in Mac-1– deficient mice since glomerular PMN accumulation in mice deficient in these ligands was comparable to those in wild-type mice. In vitro studies showed that spreading of Mac-1–null PMNs to IC-coated dishes was equivalent to that of wild-type PMNs at 5–12 min but was markedly reduced thereafter, and was associated with an inability of mutant neutrophils to redistribute filamentous actin. This suggests that in vivo, Mac-1 is not required for the initiation of Fc-mediated PMN recruitment but that Mac-1–FcγR interactions are required for filamentous actin reorganization leading to sustained PMN adhesion, and this represents the first demonstration of the relevance of Mac-1–FcγR interactions in vivo. PMN-dependent proteinuria, maximal in wild-type mice at 8 h, was absent in Mac-1 mutant mice at all time points. Complement C3–deficient mice also had significantly decreased proteinuria compared to wild-type mice. Since Mac-1 on PMNs is the principal ligand for ic3b, an absence of Mac-1 interaction with C3 probably contributed to the abrogation of proteinuria in Mac-1–null mice.


2001 ◽  
Vol 360 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephane C. BOUTET ◽  
Thomas QUERTERMOUS ◽  
Bahaa M. FADEL

TIE1, an endothelial-cell-specific tyrosine kinase receptor, is required for the survival and growth of microvascular endothelial cells during the capillary sprouting phase of vascular development. To investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate the expression of TIE1 in the endothelium, we analysed transgenic mouse embryos carrying wild-type or mutant TIE1 promoter/LacZ constructs. Our data indicate that an upstream DNA octamer element (5′-ATGCAAAT-3′) is required for the in vivo expression of TIE1 in embryonic endothelial cells. Transgenic embryos carrying the wild-type TIE1 promoter (−466 to +78bp) fused to LacZ and spanning the octamer element demonstrate endothelial-cell-specific expression of the reporter transgene. Point mutations introduced within the octamer element result in a significant decrease of endothelial LacZ expression, suggesting that the octamer site functions as a positive regulator for TIE1 gene expression in endothelial cells. DNA–protein binding studies show that the octamer element exhibits an endothelial-cell-specific pattern of binding via interaction with endothelial-cell-restricted factor(s). Our findings suggest an important role for the octamer element in regulating the expression of the TIE1 receptor in the embryonic endothelium and suggest a common mechanism for the regulation of the angiogenic and cell-specific TIE1 and TIE2 genes during vascular development.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document