We have combined electrophysiology and chemical separation and measurement techniques with capillary electrophoresis (CE) to evaluate the role of endogenous d-serine as an NMDA receptor (NMDAR) coagonist in the salamander retina. Electrophysiological experiments were carried out using whole cell recordings from retinal ganglion cells and extracellular recordings of the proximal negative response (PNR), while bath applying two D-serine degrading enzymes, including d-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) and D-serine deaminase (DsdA). The addition of either enzyme resulted in a significant and rapid decline in the light-evoked responses observed in ganglion cell and PNR recordings. The addition of exogenous D-serine in the presence of the enzymes restored the light-evoked responses to the control or supracontrol amplitudes. Heat-inactivated enzymes had no effect on the light responses and blocking NMDARs with AP7 eliminated the suppressive influence of the enzymes as well as the response enhancement normally associated with exogenous d-serine application. CE was used to separate amino acid racemates and to study the selectivity of DAAO and DsdA against D-serine and glycine. Both enzymes showed high selectivity for D-serine without significant effects on glycine. Our results strongly support the concept that endogenous D-serine plays an essential role as a coagonist for NMDARs, allowing them to contribute to the light-evoked responses of retinal ganglion cells. Furthermore under our experimental conditions, these coagonist sites are not saturated so that modulation of NMDAR sensitivity can be achieved with further modulaton of d-serine.

During early obesity, pancreatic b cells compensate for increased metabolic demand through a transient phase of insulin hypersecretion that stabilizes blood glucose and forestalls diabetic progression. We find evidence that b cell O-GlcNAcylation, a nutrient-responsive post-translational protein modification regulated by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), is critical for coupling hyperlipidemia to b cell functional adaptation during this compensatory prediabetic phase. In mice, islet O-GlcNAcylation rises and falls in tandem with the timeline of secretory potentiation during high-fat feeding while genetic models of b-cell-specific OGT loss abolish hyperinsulinemic responses to lipids, in vivo and in vitro. We identify the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca 2+ ATPase SERCA2 as a b cell O-GlcNAcylated protein in mice and humans that is able to rescue palmitate-stimulated insulin secretion through pharmacological activation. This study reveals an important physiological role for b cell O-GlcNAcylation in sensing and responding to obesity, with therapeutic implications for managing the relationship between type 2 diabetes and its most common risk factor.

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Experiments were carried out in the retina of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) to evaluate the importance of d-serine synthesis on light-evoked N-methyl d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated components of ganglion cells and contributions to the proximal negative field potential. We blocked the synthesis of d-serine through brief exposures of the retina to phenazine ethosulfate and validated the changes in the tissue levels of d-serine using capillary electrophoresis methods to separate and measure the amino acid enantiomers. Ten minute exposures to phenazine ethosulfate decreased d-serine levels in the retina by about 50% and significantly reduced the NMDA receptor contribution to light responses of the inner retina. This is the first report of a linkage between d-serine synthesis and NMDA receptor activity in the vertebrate retina.