Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Autophagy Provides Cytoprotection from Chemical Hypoxia and Oxidant Injury and Ameliorates Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

We examined whether endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced autophagy provides cytoprotection from renal tubular epithelial cell injury due to oxidants and chemical hypoxia in vitro, as well as from ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in vivo. We demonstrate that the ER stress inducer tunicamycin triggers an unfolded protein response, upregulates ER chaperone Grp78, and activates the autophagy pathway in renal tubular epithelial cells in culture. Inhibition of ER stress-induced autophagy accelerated caspase–3 activation and cell death suggesting a pro-survival role of ER stress-induced autophagy. Compared to wild-type cells, autophagy-deficient MEFs subjected to ER stress had enhanced caspase–3 activation and cell death, a finding that further supports the cytoprotective role of ER stress-induced autophagy. Induction of autophagy by ER stress markedly afforded cytoprotection from oxidants H₂O₂ and tert-Butyl hydroperoxide and from chemical hypoxia induced by antimycin A. In contrast, inhibition of ER stress-induced autophagy or autophagy-deficient cells markedly enhanced cell death in response to oxidant injury and chemical hypoxia. In mouse kidney, similarly to renal epithelial cells in culture, tunicamycin triggered ER stress, markedly upregulated Grp78, and activated autophagy without impairing the autophagic flux. In addition, ER stress-induced autophagy markedly ameliorated renal IR injury as evident from significant improvement in renal function and histology. Inhibition of autophagy by chloroquine markedly increased renal IR injury. These studies highlight beneficial impact of ER stress-induced autophagy in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury both in vitro and in vivo.     

Phylogeny and divergence of the pinnipeds (Carnivora: Mammalia) assessed using a multigene dataset

Background  

Phylogenetic comparative methods are often improved by complete phylogenies with meaningful branch lengths (e.g., divergence dates). This study presents a dated molecular supertree for all 34 world pinniped species derived from a weighted matrix representation with parsimony (MRP) supertree analysis of 50 gene trees, each determined under a maximum likelihood (ML) framework. Divergence times were determined by mapping the same sequence data (plus two additional genes) on to the supertree topology and calibrating the ML branch lengths against a range of fossil calibrations. We assessed the sensitivity of our supertree topology in two ways: 1) a second supertree with all mtDNA genes combined into a single source tree, and 2) likelihood-based supermatrix analyses. Divergence dates were also calculated using a Bayesian relaxed molecular clock with rate autocorrelation to test the sensitivity of our supertree results further.     

Lubrication potential of magnesium stearate studied on instrumented rotary tablet press

The aim of this study was to investigate the lubrication potential of 2 grades of magnesium stearate (MS) blended with a mix of dicalcium phosphate dihydrate and microcrystalline cellulose. Force-displacement, force-time, and ejection profiles were generated using an instrumented rotary tablet press, and the effect of MS mixing time (10, 20, and 30 minutes) and tableting speed (10.7, 13.8, and 17.5 rpm) was investigated. The packing index (PI), frictional index (FI), and packing energy (PE) derived from the force-displacement profiles showed that MS sample I performed better than sample II. At higher lubricant mixing times, the values of PI were observed to increase, and values of FI and PE were observed to decrease for both MS samples. Lower values of area under the curve (AUC) calculated from force-time compression profiles also showed sample I to be superior to sample II in lubrication potential. For both the samples, the values of AUC were observed to decrease with higher lubricant mixing times. Tapping volumetry that simulates the initial particle rearrangement gave values of parameter a and C(max) that were higher for sample I than sample II and also increased with lubricant mixing time. The superior lubrication potential of sample I was also established by the lower values of peak ejection force encountered in the ejection profile. Lower ejection forces were also found to result from higher tableting speeds and longer lubricant mixing times. The difference in lubrication efficacy of the 2 samples could be attributed to differences in their solid-state properties, such as particle size, specific surface area, and d-spacing.     

p53-dependent caspase-2 activation in mitochondrial release of apoptosis-inducing factor and its role in renal tubular epithelial cell injury

We demonstrate the role of p53-mediated caspase-2 activation in the mitochondrial release of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) in cisplatin-treated renal tubular epithelial cells. Gene silencing of AIF with its small interfering RNA (siRNA) suppressed cisplatin-induced AIF expression and provided a marked protection against cell death. Subcellular fractionation and immunofluorescence studies revealed cisplatin-induced translocation of AIF from the mitochondria to the nuclei. Pancaspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone or p53 inhibitor pifithrin-alpha markedly prevented mitochondrial release of AIF, suggesting that caspases and p53 are involved in this release. Caspase-2 and -3 that were predominantly activated in response to cisplatin provided a unique model to study the role of these caspases in AIF release. Cisplatin-treated caspase-3 (+/+) and caspase-3 (-/-) cells exhibited similar AIF translocation to the nuclei, suggesting that caspase-3 does not affect AIF translocation, and thus, caspase-2 may be involved in the translocation. Caspase-2 inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Asp-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethylketone or down-regulation of caspase-2 by its siRNA significantly prevented translocation of AIF. Caspase-2 activation was a critical response from p53, which was markedly induced and phosphorylated in cisplatin-treated cells. Overexpression of p53 not only resulted in caspase-2 activation but also mitochondrial release of AIF. The p53 inhibitor pifithrin-alpha or p53 siRNA prevented both cisplatin-induced caspase-2 activation and mitochondrial release of AIF. Caspase-2 activation was dependent on the p53-responsive gene, PIDD, a death domain-containing protein that was induced by cisplatin in a p53-dependent manner. These results suggest that caspase-2 activation mediated by p53 is an important pathway involved in the mitochondrial release of AIF in response to cisplatin injury.     

Purification and properties of glucosidase I from mung bean seedlings

The microsomal enzyme fraction from mung bean seedlings was found to contain glucosidase activity capable of releasing [3H]glucose from the glucose-labeled Glc3Man9GlcNAc. The enzymatic activity could be released in a soluble form by treating the microsomal particles with 1.5% Triton X-100. When the solubilized enzyme fraction was chromatographed on DE-52, it was possible to resolve glucosidase I activity (measured by the release of [3H]glucose from Glc3Man9GlcNAc) from glucosidase II (measured by release of [3H]glucose from Glc2Man9GlcNAc). The glucosidase I was purified about 200-fold by chromatography on hydroxylapatite, Sephadex G-200, dextran-Sepharose, and concanavalin A-Sepharose. The purified enzyme was free of glucosidase II and aryl-glucosidase activities. Only a single glucose residue could be released from the Glc3Man9GlcNAc by this purified enzyme and the other product was the Glc2Man9GlcNAc. Furthermore, this enzyme was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by kojibiose, an alpha-1,2-linked glucose disaccharide, but not by other alpha-linked glucose disaccharides. These data indicate that this glucosidase is a specific alpha-1,2-glucosidase. The pH optimum for the glucosidase I was about 6.3 to 6.5, and no requirements for divalent cations were observed. The enzyme was inhibited strongly by the glucosidase processing inhibitors, castanospermine and deoxynojirimycin, and less strongly by the plant pyrrolidine alkaloid, 2,5-dihydroxymethyl-3,4-dihydroxypyrrolidine. However, the enzyme was not inhibited by the mannosidase processing inhibitors, swainsonine, deoxymannojirimycin or 1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-mannitol. The stability of the enzyme under various conditions and other properties of the enzyme were determined.     

Calnexin Improves the Folding Efficiency of Mutant Rhodopsin in the Presence of Pharmacological Chaperone 11-cis-Retinal

The lectin chaperone calnexin (Cnx) is important for quality control of glycoproteins, and the chances of correct folding of a protein increase the longer the protein interacts with Cnx. Mutations in glycoproteins increase their association with Cnx, and these mutant proteins are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. However, until now, the increased interaction with Cnx was not known to increase the folding of mutant glycoproteins. Because many human diseases result from glycoprotein misfolding, a Cnx-assisted folding of mutant glycoproteins could be beneficial. Mutations of rhodopsin, the glycoprotein pigment of rod photoreceptors, cause misfolding resulting in retinitis pigmentosa. Despite the critical role of Cnx in glycoprotein folding, surprisingly little is known about its interaction with rhodopsin or whether this interaction could be modulated to increase the folding of mutant rhodopsin. Here, we demonstrate that Cnx preferentially associates with misfolded mutant opsins associated with retinitis pigmentosa. Furthermore, the overexpression of Cnx leads to an increased accumulation of misfolded P23H opsin but not the correctly folded protein. Finally, we demonstrate that increased levels of Cnx in the presence of the pharmacological chaperone 11-cis-retinal increase the folding efficiency and result in an increase in correct folding of mutant rhodopsin. These results demonstrate that misfolded rather than correctly folded rhodopsin is a substrate for Cnx and that the interaction between Cnx and mutant, misfolded rhodopsin, can be targeted to increase the yield of folded mutant protein.