No abstract

Patients with craniopharyngioma (CP), a tumor located in the pituitary and/or hypothalamus, are susceptible to developing obesity and many metabolic complications. The study aim was to create a rodent model that mimics the complex neuroanatomical and metabolic disturbances commonly seen in obese CP patients. We compared the metabolic phenotype of animals with three distinct types of hypothalamic lesions: 1) destruction of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) induced by monosodium glutamate (MSG), 2) electrolytic lesion of the adjacent ventromedial nucleus (VMN) alone, 3) both the VMN and dorsomedial nucleus (DMN), or a 4) combined medial hypothalamic lesion (CMHL) affecting the VMN, DMN, and the ARC. Only the CMHL model exhibited all key features observed in patients with hypothalamic obesity induced by CP. These features included excessive weight gain due to increased adiposity, increased food intake, and pronounced hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia. Similar to characteristics of patients with CP, CMHL animals exhibited reduced plasma levels of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone and reduced ambulatory activity compared with weight-matched controls. Therefore, the CMHL model best mimics the complex metabolic abnormalities observed in obese CP patients compared with lesions to other hypothalamic areas and provides a foundation for future pharmacological approaches to treat obesity in children with hypothalamic damage.

Glutathione reductase (Gsr)1 catalyzes the reduction of glutathione disulfide to glutathione, a major cellular antioxidant. We have recently shown that Gsr is essential for host defense against the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli in a mouse model of sepsis. While we have demonstrated that Gsr is required for sustaining the oxidative burst and the development of neutrophil extracellular traps, the role of Gsr in other phagocytic functions remains unclear. It is also unclear whether Gsr-deficient mice exhibit host defense defects against Gram-positive bacteria. In the present study, we characterized the effects of Gsr deficiency on the innate immune responses to a Gram-positive bacterium, group B Streptococcus, and to the Gram-negative bacterial cell wall component lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We found that like, E. coli, group B Streptococcus resulted in a substantially more robust cytokine response and a markedly higher morbidity and mortality in Gsr-deficient mice than in wildtype mice. The increased morbidity and mortality were associated with greater bacterial burden in the Gsr-deficient mice. Interestingly, Gsr-deficient mice did not exhibit a greater sensitivity to LPS than did wildtype mice. Analysis of the neutrophils of Gsr-deficient mice revealed impaired phagocytosis. In response to thioglycollate stimulation, Gsr-deficient mice mobilized far fewer phagocytes, including neutrophils, macrophages, and eosinophils, into their peritoneal cavities than did wildtype mice. The defective phagocyte mobilization is associated with profound oxidation and aggregation of ascitic proteins, particularly albumin. Our results indicate that the oxidative defense mechanism mediated by Gsr is required for an effective innate immune response against bacteria, likely by preventing phagocyte dysfunction due to oxidative damage.