The transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 (TM6SF2) loss-of-function variant, rs58542926, is a genetic risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and progression to fibrosis, but is paradoxically associated with lower levels of hepatic-derived triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TRLs). TM6SF2 is expressed predominately in liver and small intestine, sites for triglyceride rich lipoprotein biogenesis and export. In light of this, we hypothesized that TM6SF2 may exhibit analogous effects on both liver and intestine lipid homeostasis. To test this, we genotyped rs58542926 in 983 bariatric surgery patients from the Geisinger Medical Center for Nutrition and Weight Management, Geisinger Health System (GHS) in PA and from 3,556 study participants enrolled in the Amish Complex Disease Research Program (ACDRP). Although these two cohorts have different metabolic profiles, carriers in both cohorts had improved fasting lipid profiles. Importantly, following a high fat challenge, carriers in the ACDRP cohort exhibited significantly lower postprandial serum triglycerides suggestive of a role for TM6SF2 in the small intestine. To gain further insight into this putative role, effects of TM6SF2 deficiency were studied in a zebrafish model and in cultured human Caco-2 enterocytes. In both systems TM6SF2-deficiency resulted in defects in small intestine metabolism in response to dietary lipids including significantly increased lipid accumulation, decreased lipid clearance and increased endoplasmic reticulum stress. Conclusions: These data strongly support a role of TM6SF2 in regulation of postprandial lipemia potentially through a similar function for TM6SF2 in the lipidation and/or export of both hepatically- and intestinally-derived TRLs.

The differentiation and survival of heterozygous Lurcher (+/Lc) Purkinje cells in vitro was examined as a model system for studying how chronic ionic stress affects neuronal differentiation and survival. The Lurcher mutation in the δ2 glutamate receptor (GluRδ2) converts an orphan receptor into a membrane channel that constitutively passes an inward cation current. In the GluRδ2+/Lc mutant, Purkinje cell dendritic differentiation is disrupted and the cells degenerate following the first week of postnatal development. To determine if the GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cell phenotype is recapitulated in vitro, +/+ and +/Lc Purkinje cells from postnatal day 0 pups were grown in either isolated cell or cerebellar slice cultures. GluRδ2+/+ and GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cells appeared to develop normally through the first 7 days in vitro (DIV), but by 11 DIV GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cells exhibited a significantly higher cation leak current. By 14 DIV, GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cell dendrites were stunted and the number of surviving GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cells was reduced by 75% compared to controls. However, treatment of +/Lc cerebellar cultures with 1-naphthyl acetyl spermine (NASP) increased +/Lc Purkinje cell survival to wild type levels. These results support the conclusion that the Lurcher mutation in GluRδ2 induces cell autonomous defects in differentiation and survival. The establishment of a tissue culture system for studying cell injury and death mechanisms in a relatively simple system like GluRδ2+/Lc Purkinje cells will provide a valuable model for studying how the induction of a chronic inward cation current in a single cell type affects neuronal differentiation and survival.

The spatial organization of the mouse cerebellum into transverse zones and parasagittal stripes is reflected during the temporal progression of Purkinje cell death in the Lurcher mutant mouse (+/Lc). Neurodegeneration in the +/Lc mutant is apparent by the second postnatal week and is initially seen in all four transverse zones: the anterior (lobules I-V), central (lobules VI, VII), posterior (lobules VIII, dorsal IX), and nodular (ventral lobule IX and lobule X) zone. However, from postnatal day (P)25-P36, Purkinje cell loss proceeds more rapidly in the anterior zone, followed by the posterior and central zones, and is significantly delayed in the nodular zone. Coronal sections through the +/Lc cerebellum reveal that surviving Purkinje cells are restricted to the paraflocculus/flocculus and the nodular zone and could be detected as late as P146 (approximately 5 months). Within this region, the pattern of preferentially surviving calbindin-immunoreactive Purkinje cells reflects the expression of the constitutively expressed small heat shock protein HSP25 in the wild-type cerebellum. Although the role of constitutively expressed HSP25 in the wild-type cerebellum is not clear, it appears to play a neuroprotective role in the flocculonodular region of the +/Lc mutant cerebellum as the percentage of surviving Purkinje cells that are HSP25-immunopositive significantly increases over time.

BackgroundShaping of the neural tube, the precursor of the brain and spinal cord, involves narrowing and elongation of the neural tissue, concomitantly with other morphogenetic changes that contribue to this process. In zebrafish, medial displacement of neural cells (neural convergence or NC), which drives the infolding and narrowing of the neural ectoderm, is mediated by polarized migration and cell elongation towards the dorsal midline. Failure to undergo proper NC results in severe neural tube defects, yet the molecular underpinnings of this process remain poorly understood.ResultsWe investigated here the role of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton in mediating NC in zebrafish embryos using the MT destabilizing and hyperstabilizing drugs nocodazole and paclitaxel respectively. We found that MTs undergo major changes in organization and stability during neurulation and are required for the timely completion of NC by promoting cell elongation and polarity. We next examined the role of Microtubule-associated protein 1B (Map1b), previously shown to promote MT dynamicity in axons. map1b is expressed earlier than previously reported, in the developing neural tube and underlying mesoderm. Loss of Map1b function using morpholinos (MOs) or δMap1b (encoding a truncated Map1b protein product) resulted in delayed NC and duplication of the neural tube, a defect associated with impaired NC. We observed a loss of stable MTs in these embryos that is likely to contribute to the NC defect. Lastly, we found that Map1b mediates cell elongation in a cell autonomous manner and polarized protrusive activity, two cell behaviors that underlie NC and are MT-dependent.ConclusionsTogether, these data highlight the importance of MTs in the early morphogenetic movements that shape the neural tube and reveal a novel role for the MT regulator Map1b in mediating cell elongation and polarized cell movement in neural progenitor cells.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13064-015-0056-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Alström syndrome (OMIM #203800) is an autosomal recessive obesity ciliopathy caused by loss-of-function mutations in the ALMS1 gene. In addition to multi-organ dysfunction, such as cardiomyopathy, retinal degeneration and renal dysfunction, the disorder is characterized by high rates of obesity, insulin resistance and early-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). To investigate the underlying mechanisms of T2DM phenotypes, we generated a loss-of-function deletion of alms1 in the zebrafish. We demonstrate conservation of hallmark clinical characteristics alongside metabolic syndrome phenotypes, including a propensity for obesity and fatty livers, hyperinsulinemia and glucose response defects. Gene expression changes in β-cells isolated from alms1 −/− mutants revealed changes consistent with insulin hypersecretion and glucose sensing failure, which were corroborated in cultured murine β-cells lacking Alms1. We also found evidence of defects in peripheral glucose uptake and concomitant hyperinsulinemia in the alms1 −/− animals. We propose a model in which hyperinsulinemia is the primary and causative defect underlying generation of T2DM associated with alms1 deficiency. These observations support the alms1 loss-of-function zebrafish mutant as a monogenic model for mechanistic interrogation of T2DM phenotypes.