神经发育中的一些新发现的轴突导向因子

神经发育过程中,存在一些引导轴突向特定靶区生长的导向因子。这些因子以浓度梯度型式作用,或者与细胞膜相连起信号转导作用。主要介绍近来发现几类新的轴突导向因子家族：ｎｅｔｒｉｎ家族、ｓｅｍａｐｈｏｒｉｎ家族、ｃｏｎｎｅｃｔｉｈ家族、Ｅｐｈ受体家族及其配体家族,以及其它的轴突导向因子。     

神经生长因子家族及其受体研究进展

过去几年在神经营养因子、受体和神经元细胞程序性死亡的研究领域中取得了几项引人注目的进展：（１）神经生长因子（ＮＧＦ）基因家族的其他一些成员包括脑源性神经营养因子（ＢＤＮＦ）、神经营养素－３（ＮＴ－３）、神经营养素－４（ＮＴ－４）、神经营养素－５（ＮＴ－５）的发现;（２）神经生长因子三维结构及功能和进化之关系的阐明;（３）定性了两种神经生长因子受体Ｐ７５＾ＮＧＦＲ和原癌基因ｐ１４０＾ｔｒｋＡ以及相关     

细胞分裂素结合蛋白的研究进展

迄今为止,已从多种植物中分离到细胞分裂素结合蛋白（ＣＢＰｓ）,它们可能在细胞分裂素的信号转导、体内运输及代谢中起作用。根据现有研究结果认为,大多数ＣＴＫｓ受体可能位于膜上,通过与Ｇ－蛋白耦联的信号转导系统或双组分信号转导系统完成ＣＴＫｓ信号的跨膜转导。少数ＣＴＫｓ受体可能位于细胞质中,与胞内ＣＴＫｓ结合后进入细胞核,直接调节基因的表达。本文综述了近年来对ＣＢＰｓ的研究进展,分析了ＣＴＫｓ受体的可能     

雌激素受体信号通路新进展

雌激素通过直接与两类核内雌激素受体ERα和ERβ结合,活化靶基因的转录,这是经典的雌激素受体信号转导途径。近来发现,雌激素受体还能够通过依赖或不依赖雌激素的方式与胞内一些信号通路对话,使自身被磷酸化而活化;雌激素受体还能与其它转录因子相互作用,调节自身或者其它转录因子的活化功能,参与ER阳性细胞的增殖调节。此外,雌激素能通过细胞膜上的雌激素受体进行信号转导,引起靶细胞的快速反应及活化靶基因转录,参与骨和心血管保护。     

拉特罗毒素的结构、受体及促分泌机制

α-拉特罗毒素(α-latrotoxin,α-LTX;也称:α-黑寡妇蜘蛛毒素)是一种从黑寡妇蜘蛛毒液中纯化到的,可以有效地触发神经元轴突终末神经递质的释放和分泌细胞分泌的神经毒素。它在细胞膜上存在三类受体。通过与其受体的结合,α-LTX可以通过对细胞膜的穿孔作用以及受体介导的跨膜信号转导两种方式触发细胞分泌。对α-LTX的促分泌作用机制的研究可以促进人们对分泌及其调节机制的深入认识。     

电针对局灶性脑缺血大鼠脑内神经生长因子受体trkA的影响

神经生长因子对神经元凋亡有拮抗作用,其作用方式是通过特异性受体——ｔｒｋＡ实现。为了探讨针刺对内源性抗凋亡因素的调节作用。本研究用大鼠局灶性脑缺血再灌注模型,应用免疫组织化学方法观察缺血再灌注时ｔｒｋＡ的变化及针刺对ｔｒｋＡ的影响。结果发现：缺血组对照侧大脑皮层偶见散在ｔｒｋＡ免疫阳性神经元,缺血侧大脑皮层ｔｒｋＡ阳性神经元与对照侧相比,显微镜下见无显著性差异。电针组缺血侧大脑皮层见大量ｔｒｋＡ免疫反应阳性神经元,主要分布于半影区,与对照侧及未电针的缺血侧相比,显微镜下见阳性神经元数目有差异。结果提示：电针可以诱导脑缺血时神经营养因子受体表达,调动机体内抗凋亡因素的作用。     

核受体超家族介导基因调控的分子机制

核受体超家族由甾体激素、甲状腺激素、维甲酸、维生素D等化学信号的受体及配体未明的多种孤儿受体组成,该家族成员的主要功能是作为配体激活的转录因子,调控代谢、发育、生殖相关基因的表达。核受体与启动子和增强子上的激素应答元件及其它DNA序列特异性激活因子结合,而激活或阻遏靶基因的转录。核受体调控基因转录需要募集称为辅调控因子的蛋白分子,这些蛋白分子与核受体一起装配成多组分的复合物,它们可提供相关的酶促活性和脚手架功能。通过与基础转录机器的相互作用和对染色质结构的可逆性共价修饰等作用,辅调控因子调控核受体对靶基因转录的激活或阻遏。许多辅调控因子本身受到多条细胞内信号转导途径的调控。     

黄体生成素和绒毛膜促性腺激素受体的研究进展

黄体生成素和绒毛膜促性腺素与靶细胞膜上的同一种受体结构，ＬＨ／ＣＧ受体是一种Ｇ蛋白偶联受体，主要Ｇｓ偶联，也在不同程度上与Ｇｑ／１１偶联。近年来对ＬＨ／ＣＧ受体结构与功能的关系，基因结构，基因表达及调控以及其信号转导机制等方面了进行了广泛而深入的研究，取得了许多突破性进展。     

初探E2F1 对基因组内跨膜信号转导基因的调控作用

目的:从基因组全局性角度研究E2F1对包括离子通道和G蛋白偶联受体在内的重要的跨膜信号转导基因的调控作用。方法:对从TRED和IUPHAR获取的E2F1靶基因数据和基因组离子通道及G蛋白偶联受体基因数据进行数据联配,获取E2F1调控的离子通道基因(ICG)和G蛋白偶联受体基因,并对调控基因进行家族富集性分析和组织特异性分析。结果:发现E2F1对7个ICG具有调控作用,且具有钾离子通道富集性,调控的离子通道基因具有心脏、脑、消化系统组织表达特异性。获得的11个受E2F1调控的G蛋白偶联受体基因家族富集性不明显,组织特异性表达不一致。结论:E2F1可能通过对钾离子通道基因的表达调控,实现对相应组织的作用机理影响,相应调控作用的紊乱也将导致心脏、脑或消化系统疾病,但难以确定E2F1对GPCR的调控作用效果。     

死亡受体及其配体与心肌细胞凋亡

细胞凋亡是一种受基因调控的主动性细胞死亡 ,表现为凋亡信号通路的启动及相关基因的表达。在细胞凋亡的发生过程中 ,有不同的信号转导途径介导和参与 ,而直接启动凋亡的一条最具特征性的途径为死亡受体 (ｄｅａｔｈｒｅｃｅｐｔｏｒ ,ＤＲ)信号转导途径。死亡受体为位于细胞膜表面的某种蛋白质 ,能与携带凋亡信号的专一性配体结合并迅速将凋亡信号转导到细胞内而诱导细胞凋亡 ,属于肿瘤坏死因子 (ｔｕｍｏｒｎｅｃｒｏｓｉｓｆａｃｔｏｒ ,ＴＮＦ)受体基因超家族成员。这些受体均具有相似的富含半胱氨酸的胞外区 ,而且均存在一个约 80～ 90…     

Neurotrophins play an important role in the perineural invasion and distant metastasis of malignant tumor

Neurotrophins (NTs) family was first discovered in nervous system and it regulates the proliferation and differentiation of many neural cell types in the peripheral and central nervous system.Due to their perineural invasive characters, certain part of malignant tumor cases was first diagnosed because of nerve paralysis or idiopathic neuralgia caused by perineural invasion. For this reason, the study on the association between NTs and perineural invasion of malignant tumor aroused the attention of many researchers. Increasing evidence indicates that NTs and their receptors, Trks, play important roles in malignant cells, especially the exhibiting perineural invasive phenotype. It was suggested that NTs produced by neural tissue can act as a chemotactic factor, and tumor cells in which the overexpression of Trks' exists seem to be selected to invade the perineural space. Except for contributing to perineural invasion of malignant tumor, accumulated evidence proved NTs now also significantly associated with the metastasis of malignant tumor. Overexpression of NTs or Trks often correlated with the tumorigenesis, angiogenesis and anoikis resistance in these malignancies, contributing significantly to the metastasis and poor prognosis.In summary, besides its role in development and function of nervous system, NTs also play an important role in the perineural invasion and metastasis of malignant tumor. Considering the role that NTs played in malignant tumor, we believe that further studies between NTs and malignant tumor are necessary. Research on the role of NTs pathway might allow advancements in this field.     

An immunoglobulin-like domain determines the specificity of neurotrophin receptors.

The neurotrophins influence survival and maintenance of vertebrate neurons in the embryonic, early post-natal and post-developmental stages of the nervous system. Binding of neurotrophins to receptors encoded by the gene family trk initiates signal transduction into the cell. trkA interacts preferably with nerve growth factor (NGF), trkB with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) and trkC with neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). By constructing 17 different chimeras and domain deletions of the human trk receptors and analyzing their binding affinities to the neurotrophins we have shown that an immunoglobulin-like domain located adjacent to the transmembrane domain is the structural element that determines the interaction of neurotrophins with their receptors. Chimeras of trkC where this domain was exchanged for the homologous sequences from trkB or trkA gained high affinity binding to BDNF or NGF respectively, while deletion of this domain in trkC or trkA abolished binding to NT-3 or NGF respectively. This domain alone retained affinities to neurotrophins similar to the full-length receptors and when expressed on NIH 3T3 cells in fusion with the kinase domain showed neurotrophin-dependent activation.     

Widespread Neurotrophin Receptor Expression in the Immune System and Other Nonneuronal Rat Tissues

Abstract: RNase protection analysis using p75, trk A, and trk B RNA probes was used to examine mRNA expression in rat tissues, with particular emphasis on the immune system. Every tissue examined, with the exception of postnatal day 0 spleen, expressed p75 mRNA. Trk A mRNA was observed in tissues previously reported to be negative for the trk A receptor, such as kidney, thymus, lymph node, muscle, and lung. Neuronal tissues expressed only the long form of trk A, whereas nonneuronal tissues expressed both trk A forms. Trk B mRNA was expressed by the same tissues as trk A, plus heart and spleen. Neuronal tissues expressed full-length and truncated trk B, whereas nonneuronal tissues only expressed truncated trk B. During development of the thymus p75 mRNA levels increased and trk A mRNA levels decreased. Similarly, for the spleen, p75 mRNA levels increased and those of trk B decreased during development. The expression of p75, trk A and trk B was localized primarily to the stroma of the thymus and spleen, but there was some expression by the splenocytes and thymocytes. The widespread expression of neurotrophin receptors in areas not known to be targets for neurotrophins suggests broader functions for neurotrophins outside of the nervous system.     

Spatiotemporal patterns of expression of neurotrophins and neurotrophin receptors in mice suggest functional roles in testicular and epididymal morphogenesis.

Several reports have established that the action of neurotrophins is not restricted to the nervous system but can affect a broad range of non-neuronal cells. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is present in adult testis and has been suggested as a potential regulator of meiosis in rat seminiferous epithelium. Here we present an extensive immunohistochemical study on neurotrophins and their receptors (p75 and trk) in the developing mouse testis and epididymis, and in fetal human testis. During the early steps of testicular and epididymal organization in the mouse, strong p75 immunoreactivity is detectable in the gonadal ridge in the mesenchyme that is excluded from the evolving testicular cords, and in the mesenchymal cells of the mesonephros. Later in organogenesis, most of the p75-positive interstitial cells of the testis coexpress neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and the truncated trk B receptor in a developmentally regulated pattern. Our Western blot data confirm the expression of these molecules. These findings suggest that neurotrophin receptors play a role in early inductive events during critical periods of testicular and epididymal development. During fetal and postnatal histogenesis, an increasing number of NT-3- and p75-positive mesenchymal cells start to express alpha-smooth muscle isoactin, suggesting a role for the so-called neurotrophic system in the differentiation of testicular myoid cells and epididymal smooth muscle cells. In the testis of an 18-wk gestational-age human fetus, immunohistochemical analysis has shown intense immunoreactivity of mesenchymal cells to antibodies for neurotrophin receptors p75, trk A, and trk C, and their ligands NGF and NT-3. In addition, we found that in the human fetal testis, the interstitial cells that are differentiating into peritubular myoid cells are associated with a dense network of nerve fibers. Our data suggest that neurotrophins and their receptors are involved in a multifunctional system that regulates cell differentiation and innervation in the developing testis and epididymis.     

Sensitization of recombinant vanilloid receptor-1 by various neurotrophic factors

The vanilloid receptor (VR1) is a central integrator molecule of nociceptive stimuli. In this study, we have measured the effects of various neurotrophins (nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophin-3, and -4) on recombinant rat VR1-mediated intracellular calcium rise in response to capsaicin in VR1/C6 cells. Our results clearly show that all neurotrophins sensitize the VR1 to capsaicin. Furthermore, using K252a, an inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, we present that actions of neurotrophins are mediated by the trk (A, B, C) receptors expressed in these cells. These data argue for the putative roles of neurotrophins in inducing inflammatory (thermal) hyperalgesia via VR1.     

Neurotrophins and their Trk‐receptors in the cerebellum of zebrafish

Neurotrophins (NTs) and their specific Trk‐receptors are key molecules involved in the regulation of survival, proliferation, and differentiation of central nervous system during development and adulthood in vertebrates. In the present survey, we studied the expression and localization of neurotrophins and their Trk‐receptors in the cerebellum of teleost fish Danio rerio (zebrafish). Teleostean cerebellum is composed of a valvula, body and vestibulolateral lobe. Valvula and body show the same three‐layer structure as cerebellar cortex in mammals. The expression of NTs and Trk‐receptors in the whole brain of zebrafish has been studied by Western blotting analysis. By immunohistochemistry, the localization of NTs has been observed mainly in Purkinje cells; TrkA and TrkB‐receptors in cells and fibers of granular and molecular layers. TrkC was faintly detected. The occurrence of NTs and Trk‐receptors suggests that they could have a synergistic action in the cerebellum of zebrafish. J. Morphol. 277:725–736, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Neurotrophins, airway smooth muscle and the fetal breathing-like movements

Central nervous system and skeletal muscles secrete a group of polypeptide hormones called neurotrophins (NTs). More recent studies show that NTs and their receptors are also expressed in the lung, suggesting a role for NTs in lung development. To examine the role of NTs during normal and diseased lung organogenesis, we employed wild-type and amyogenic mouse embryos (designated as Myf5-/-:MyoD-/-). Amyogenic embryos completely lacked skeletal muscles and were not viable after birth due to the respiratory failure secondary to lung hypoplasia. To examine the importance of lung-secreted NTs during normal and hypoplastic lung organogenesis, immunohistochemistry was employed. Distribution of NTs and their receptors was indistinguishable between normal and hypoplastic lungs. To further examine the importance of non-lung-secreted NTs (e.g., from the skeletal muscle and CNS) in lung organogenesis, in utero injections of two NTs were performed. The exogenously introduced NTs (i.e., non-lung-secreted) did not appear to improve development of the lung in amyogenic embryos. Moreover, immunohistochemistry showed significantly reduced number of airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) in hypoplastic lungs of amyogenic embryos, suggesting that the number of ASMCs is primarily regulated by the fetal breathing-like movements (i.e., mechanical factors).     

Molecular evolution of the neurotrophin family members and their Trk receptors

Neurotrophins are structurally related proteins regulating brain development and function. Molecular evolution studies of neurotrophins and their receptors are essential for understanding the mechanisms underlying the coevolution processes of these gene families and how they correlate with the increased complexity of the vertebrate nervous system. In order to improve our current knowledge of the molecular evolution of neurotrophins and receptors, we have collected all information available in the literature and analyzed the genome database for each of them. Statistical analysis of aminoacid and nucleotide sequences of the neurotrophin and Trk family genes was applied to both complete genes and mature sequences, and different phylogenetic methods were used to compare aminoacid and nucleotide sequences variability among the different species. All collected data favor a model in which several rounds of genome duplications might have facilitated the generation of the many different neurotrophins and the acquisition of specific different functions correlated with the increased complexity of the vertebrate nervous system during evolution. We report findings that refine the structure of the evolutionary trees for neurotrophins and Trk receptors families, indicate different rates of evolution for each member of the two families, and newly demonstrate that the NGF-like genes found in Fowlpox and Canarypox viruses are closely related to reptile NGF.     

Transplanted neural progenitor cells expressing mutant NT3 promote myelination and partial hindlimb recovery in the chronic phase after spinal cord injury

Neutrotrophin-3 (NT3) plays a protective role in injured central nervous system tissues through interaction with trk receptors. To enhance the regeneration of damaged tissue, a combination therapy with cell transplantation and neurotrophins has been under development. We examined whether the transplantation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) secreting NT3/D15A, a multi-neurotrophin with the capacity to bind both trkB and trkC, would enhance the repair of damaged tissues and the functional recovery in a chronic phase of spinal cord injury. The cultured NPCs with lentiviral vector containing either GFP or NT3/D15A were transplanted into the contused spinal cord at 6 weeks after the initial thoracic injury. Eight weeks after the transplantation, the NT3/D15A transplants displayed better survival than the GFP transplants, and they exhibited enhanced myelin formation and partial improvement of hindlimb function. Our study revealed that NT3/D15A produced positive effects in injured spinal cords even in the chronic phase. These effects suggest an enhanced neurotrophin-trk signaling by NT3/D15A.     

p75NTR: A study in contrasts

The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) and trkA, trkB and trkC mediate the physiological effects of the neurotrophins. The trk receptors are responsible for the stereotypical survival and growth properties of the neurotrophins but defining the physiological function of the p75NTR has proven difficult. The p75NTR binds each of the neurotrophins with low nanomolar affinity whereas the three trk receptors show strong binding preferences for individual neurotrophins; in some cell types, p75NTR is the only neurotrophin receptor whereas in others it is co-expressed with the trks. The analysis of p75NTR function has been complicated by the fact that the predominant physiological role of p75NTR changes dramatically depending on cell context. Available data suggests that in cells where p75NTR is co-expressed with trk receptors, p75NTR functionally collaborates with the trks to either enhance responses to preferred trk ligands, to reduce neurotrophin-mediated trk receptor activation resulting from non-preferred ligands or to facilitate apoptosis resulting from neurotrophin withdrawal. In cells lacking trk expression, p75NTR can act autonomously to activate ligand-dependent signaling cascades that may in some circumstances result in apoptosis but probably not through pathways utilized by its apoptotic brethren in the TNF receptor superfamily. Potential mechanisms for each of these functions of p75NTR are considered and the physiological implications of this unique signaling system are discussed.