Alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors mediate part of the diverse biological effects of the endogenous catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. Three distinct subtypes of alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors, alpha(2A), alpha(2B), alpha(2C), have been identified from multiple species. Because of the lack of sufficiently subtype-selective ligands, the specific biological functions of these receptor subtypes were largely unknown until recently. Gene-targeted mice carrying deletions in the genes encoding for individual alpha(2)-receptor subtypes have added important new insight into the physiological significance of adrenergic receptor diversity. Two different strategies have emerged to regulate adrenergic signal transduction. Some biological functions are controlled by two counteracting alpha(2)-receptor subtypes, e.g., alpha(2A)-receptors decrease sympathetic outflow and blood pressure, whereas the alpha(2B)-subtype increases blood pressure. Other biological functions are regulated by synergistic alpha(2)-receptor subtypes. The inhibitory presynaptic feedback loop that tightly regulates neurotransmitter release from adrenergic nerves also requires two receptor subtypes, alpha(2A) and alpha(2C). Similarly, nociception is controlled at several levels by one of the three alpha(2)-receptor subtypes. Further investigation of the specific function of alpha(2)-subtypes will greatly enhance our understanding of the relevance of closely related receptor proteins and point out novel therapeutic strategies for subtype-selective drug development.

Age-related degenerative and malignant diseases represent major challenges for health care systems. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and age-associated pathologies is thus of growing biomedical relevance. We identified biallelic germline mutations in SPRTN (also called C1orf124 or DVC1)1–7 in three patients from two unrelated families. All three patients are affected by a new segmental progeroid syndrome characterized by genomic instability and susceptibility toward early onset hepatocellular carcinoma. SPRTN was recently proposed to have a function in translesional DNA synthesis and the prevention of mutagenesis1–7. Our in vivo and in vitro characterization of identified mutations has uncovered an essential role for SPRTN in the prevention of DNA replication stress during general DNA replication and in replication-related G2/M-checkpoint regulation. In addition to demonstrating the pathogenicity of identified SPRTN mutations, our findings provide a molecular explanation of how SPRTN dysfunction causes accelerated aging and susceptibility toward carcinoma.

In the adrenergic system, release of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine from sympathetic nerves is regulated by presynaptic inhibitory alpha2-adrenoceptors, but it is unknown whether release of epinephrine from the adrenal gland is controlled by a similar short feedback loop. Using gene-targeted mice we demonstrate that two distinct subtypes of alpha2-adrenoceptors control release of catecholamines from sympathetic nerves (alpha 2A) and from the adrenal medulla (alpha 2C). In isolated mouse chromaffin cells, alpha2-receptor activation inhibited the electrically stimulated increase in cell capacitance (a correlate of exocytosis), voltage-activated Ca2+ current, as well as secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine. The inhibitory effects of alpha2-agonists on cell capacitance, voltage-activated Ca2+ currents, and on catecholamine secretion were completely abolished in chromaffin cells isolated from alpha 2C-receptor-deficient mice. In vivo, deletion of sympathetic or adrenal feedback control led to increased plasma and urine norepinephrine (alpha 2A-knockout) and epinephrine levels (alpha 2C-knockout), respectively. Loss of feedback inhibition was compensated by increased tyrosine hydroxylase activity, as detected by elevated tissue dihydroxyphenylalanine levels. Thus, receptor subtype diversity in the adrenergic system has emerged to selectively control sympathetic and adrenal catecholamine secretion via distinct alpha2-adrenoceptor subtypes. Short-loop feedback inhibition of epinephrine release from the adrenal gland may represent a novel therapeutic target for diseases that arise from enhanced adrenergic stimulation.

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␣ 2 -Adrenoceptors mediate diverse functions of the sympathetic system and are targets for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, depression, pain, glaucoma, and sympathetic activation during opioid withdrawal. To determine whether ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors on adrenergic neurons or ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors on nonadrenergic neurons mediate the physiological and pharmacological responses of ␣ 2 -agonists, we used the dopamine ␤-hydroxylase (Dbh) promoter to drive expression of ␣ 2A -adrenoceptors exclusively in noradrenergic and adrenergic cells of transgenic mice. Dbh-␣ 2A transgenic mice were crossed with double knockout mice lacking both ␣ 2A -and ␣ 2C -receptors to generate lines with selective expression of ␣ 2A -autoreceptors in adrenergic cells. These mice were subjected to a comprehensive phenotype analysis and compared with wild-type mice, which express ␣ 2A -and ␣ 2C -receptors in both adrenergic and nonadrenergic cells, and ␣ 2A /␣ 2C double-knockout mice, which do not express these receptors in any cell type. We were surprised to find that only a few functions previously ascribed to ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors were mediated by receptors on adrenergic neurons, including feedback inhibition of norepinephrine release from sympathetic nerves and spontaneous locomotor activity. Other agonist effects, including analgesia, hypothermia, sedation, and anesthetic-sparing, were mediated by ␣ 2 -receptors in nonadrenergic cells. In dopamine ␤-hydroxylase knockout mice lacking norepinephrine, the ␣ 2 -agonist medetomidine still induced a loss of the righting reflex, confirming that the sedative effect of ␣ 2 -adrenoceptor stimulation is not mediated via autoreceptor-mediated inhibition of norepinephrine release. The present study paves the way for a revision of the current view of the ␣ 2 -adrenergic receptors, and it provides important new considerations for future drug development.Adrenergic receptors are important targets for the treatment of human diseases and conditions including hypertension and heart failure, psychiatric and neurological diseases, asthma, and pain (Westfall and Westfall, 2006). To date, nine different adrenergic receptor subtypes have been cloned and grouped into three receptor groups, including ␣ 1A,B,D , ␣ 2A,B,C , and ␤ 1,2,3 (Bylund et al., 1994). However, the therapeutic potential of these subtypes has not been fully explored because of the lack of ligands with sufficient subtype-selectivity. At present, only four of the nine possible subtype distinctions (i.e., ␣ 1 , ␣ 2 , ␤ 1 , and ␤ 2 ) have achieved clinical relevance (Westfall and Westfall, 2006). Especially within the ␣ 1 -and ␣ 2 -receptor subgroups, the physiological significance of individual receptor subtypes has remained unclear until recently. For the ␣ 2 -adrenoceptors, mouse models with targeted deletions of the individual subtypes have greatly advanced our understanding of the physiological role and the therapeutic potential of these receptors (Gilsbach and Hein, 2008). Activation of ␣ 2A -receptors could be linked with bradycardia ...

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BackgroundAxons navigate to their future synaptic targets with the help of choice points, intermediate targets that express axon guidance cues. Once they reach a choice point, axons need to switch their response from attraction to repulsion in order to move on with the next stage of their journey. The mechanisms underlying the change in axonal responsiveness are poorly understood. Commissural axons become sensitive to the repulsive activity of Slits when they cross the ventral midline of the CNS. Responsiveness to Slits depends on surface expression of Robo receptors. In Drosophila, Commissureless (Comm) plays a crucial regulatory role in midline crossing by keeping Robo levels low on precommissural axons. Interestingly, to date no vertebrate homolog of comm has been identified. Robo3/Rig1 has been shown to control Slit sensitivity before the midline, but without affecting Robo1 surface expression.ResultsWe had identified RabGDI, a gene linked to human mental retardation and an essential component of the vesicle fusion machinery, in a screen for differentially expressed floor-plate genes. Downregulation of RabGDI by in ovo RNAi caused commissural axons to stall in the floor plate, phenocopying the effect observed after downregulation of Robo1. Conversely, premature expression of RabGDI prevented commissural axons from entering the floor plate. Furthermore, RabGDI triggered Robo1 surface expression in cultured commissural neurons. Taken together, our results identify RabGDI as a component of the switching mechanism that is required for commissural axons to change their response from attraction to repulsion at the intermediate target.ConclusionRabGDI takes over the functional role of fly Comm by regulating the surface expression of Robo1 on commissural axons in vertebrates. This in turn allows commissural axons to switch from attraction to repulsion at the midline of the spinal cord.

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