RESUMEN
Cognitive abilities, particularly memory formation, vary substantially in the elderly, with some individuals exhibiting dramatic decline with age while others maintain function well into late life. Epigenetic modifications suggest an intriguing mechanism to account for the range of cognitive outcomes in aging as they are responsive to environmental influences and affect gene transcription in cognitively relevant brain regions. Leveraging a well-characterized rat model of neurocognitive aging that recapitulates the range of outcomes seen in humans, we previously identified gene expression profiles in the CA3 subregion of the hippocampus that distinguish between young and aged subjects as well as between impaired and preserved spatial memory function. To investigate the influence of epigenetics on these profiles, we examined genomic CpG DNA methylation in the promoter regions of three neurophysiologically relevant genes (Gabra5, Hspa5 and Syn1) whose expression levels decrease with age and correlate with spatial memory performance. Consistent with mRNA decreases, DNA methylation increased in aged rats relative to young in CpG dense regions of all target promoters examined. However, no correlation with cognition was found. Focused analysis of the Gabra5 gene found that methylation changes were limited to the CpG island and varied substantially across individual CpGs. Methylation at one CpG correlated with learning and demonstrated a significant difference between memory impaired aged rats and those with intact learning. These data provide evidence that broad age-dependent DNA methylation changes occur in CpG dense promoter regions of cognitively relevant genes but suggest that methylation at single CpGs may be more pertinent to individual cognitive differences.
Asunto(s)
Trastornos del Conocimiento/genética , Islas de CpG , Metilación de ADN , Envejecimiento/genética , Animales , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Chaperón BiP del Retículo Endoplásmico , Epigénesis Genética , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/genética , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Masculino , Aprendizaje por Laberinto , Memoria , Regiones Promotoras Genéticas/genética , ARN Mensajero/metabolismo , Ratas , Ratas Long-Evans , Receptores de GABA-A/genética , Receptores de GABA-A/metabolismo , Sinapsinas/genética , Sinapsinas/metabolismoRESUMEN
Sporadic Parkinson's disease (sPD) is a nervous system-wide disease that presents with a bradykinetic movement disorder and frequently progresses to include depression and cognitive impairment. Cybrid models of sPD are based on expression of sPD platelet mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in neural cells and demonstrate some similarities to sPD brains. In sPD and CTL cybrids we characterized aspects of mitochondrial biogenesis, mtDNA genomics, composition of the respirasome and the relationships among isolated mitochondrial and intact cell respiration. Cybrid mtDNA levels varied and correlated with expression of PGC-1 alpha, a transcriptional co-activator regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. Levels of mtDNA heteroplasmic mutations were asymmetrically distributed across the mitochondrial genome; numbers of heteroplasmies were more evenly distributed. Neither levels nor numbers of heteroplasmies distinguished sPD from CTL. sPD cybrid mitochondrial ETC subunit protein levels were not altered. Isolated mitochondrial complex I respiration rates showed limited correlation with whole cell complex I respiration rates in both sPD and CTL cybrids. Intact cell respiration during the normoxic-anoxic transition yielded K(m) values for oxygen that directly related to respiration rates in CTL but not in sPD cell lines. Both sPD and CTL cybrid cells are substantially heterogeneous in mitochondrial genomic and physiologic properties. Our results suggest that mtDNA depletion may occur in sPD neurons and could reflect impairment of mitochondrial biogenesis. Cybrids remain a valuable model for some aspects of sPD but their heterogeneity mitigates against a simple designation of sPD phenotype in this cell model.
Asunto(s)
Mitocondrias/metabolismo , Consumo de Oxígeno/fisiología , Enfermedad de Parkinson/fisiopatología , Anciano , Disparidad de Par Base , Línea Celular , Medios de Cultivo , Cartilla de ADN , ADN Mitocondrial/biosíntesis , ADN Mitocondrial/genética , Femenino , Dosificación de Gen , Genotipo , Humanos , Células Híbridas , Modelos Lineales , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Mitocondrias/patología , Consumo de Oxígeno/genética , Enfermedad de Parkinson/genética , Enfermedad de Parkinson/patología , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa de Transcriptasa InversaRESUMEN
We developed a scalable procedure to produce human mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) modified with an N-terminal protein transduction domain (PTD) and mitochondrial localization signal (MLS) that allow it to cross membranes and enter mitochondria through its "mitochondrial transduction domain" (MTD=PTD+MLS). Alexa488-labeled MTD-TFAM rapidly entered the mitochondrial compartment of cybrid cells carrying the G11778A LHON mutation. MTD-TFAM reversibly increased respiration and levels of respiratory proteins. In vivo treatment of mice with MTD-TFAM increased motor endurance and complex I-driven respiration in mitochondria from brain and skeletal muscle. MTD-TFAM increases mitochondrial bioenergetics and holds promise for treatment of mitochondrial diseases involving deficiencies of energy production.
Asunto(s)
Proteínas de Unión al ADN/genética , Proteínas de Unión al ADN/metabolismo , Expresión Génica , Genes Mitocondriales , Mitocondrias/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriales/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriales/metabolismo , Respiración , Factores de Transcripción/genética , Factores de Transcripción/metabolismo , Adulto , Línea Celular , Humanos , Masculino , Proteínas Mitocondriales/biosíntesis , Señales de Clasificación de Proteína , Transporte de ProteínasRESUMEN
Neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD) affects mainly dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, where age-related, increasing percentages of cells lose detectable respiratory activity associated with depletion of intact mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Replenishment of mtDNA might improve neuronal bioenergetic function and prevent further cell death. We developed a technology ("ProtoFection") that uses recombinant human mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) engineered with an N-terminal protein transduction domain (PTD) followed by the SOD2 mitochondrial localization signal (MLS) to deliver mtDNA cargo to the mitochondria of living cells. MTD-TFAM (MTD = PTD + MLS = "mitochondrial transduction domain") binds mtDNA and rapidly transports it across plasma membranes to mitochondria. For therapeutic proof-of-principle we tested ProtoFection technology in Parkinson's disease cybrid cells, using mtDNA generated from commercially available human genomic DNA (gDNA; Roche). Nine to 11 weeks after single exposures to MTD-TFAM + mtDNA complex, PD cybrid cells with impaired respiration and reduced mtDNA genes increased their mtDNA gene copy numbers up to 24-fold, mtDNA-derived RNAs up to 35-fold, TFAM and ETC proteins, cell respiration, and mitochondrial movement velocities. Cybrid cells with no or minimal basal mitochondrial impairments showed reduced or no responses to treatment, suggesting the possibility of therapeutic selectivity. Exposure of PD but not control cybrid cells to MTD-TFAM protein alone or MTD-TFAM + mtDNA complex increased expression of PGC-1alpha, suggesting activation of mitochondrial biogenesis. ProtoFection technology for mitochondrial gene therapy holds promise for improving bioenergetic function in impaired PD neurons and needs additional development to define its pharmacodynamics and delineate its molecular mechanisms. It also is unclear whether single-donor gDNA for generating mtDNA would be a preferred therapeutic compared with the pooled gDNA used in this study.