When proteostasis becomes unbalanced, unfolded proteins can accumulate and aggregate. Here we report that the dye, tetraphenylethene maleimide (TPE-MI) can be used to measure cellular unfolded protein load. TPE-MI fluorescence is activated upon labelling free cysteine thiols, normally buried in the core of globular proteins that are exposed upon unfolding. Crucially TPE-MI does not become fluorescent when conjugated to soluble glutathione. We find that TPE-MI fluorescence is enhanced upon reaction with cellular proteomes under conditions promoting accumulation of unfolded proteins. TPE-MI reactivity can be used to track which proteins expose more cysteine residues under stress through proteomic analysis. We show that TPE-MI can report imbalances in proteostasis in induced pluripotent stem cell models of Huntington disease, as well as cells transfected with mutant Huntington exon 1 before the formation of visible aggregates. TPE-MI also detects protein damage following dihydroartemisinin treatment of the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum. TPE-MI therefore holds promise as a tool to probe proteostasis mechanisms in disease.

The pool of quality control proteins (QC) that maintains protein-folding homeostasis (proteostasis) is dynamic but can become depleted in human disease. A challenge has been in quantitatively defining the depth of the QC pool. With a new biosensor, flow cytometry-based methods and mathematical modeling we measure the QC capacity to act as holdases and suppress biosensor aggregation. The biosensor system comprises a series of barnase kernels with differing folding stability that engage primarily with HSP70 and HSP90 family proteins. Conditions of proteostasis stimulation and stress alter QC holdase activity and aggregation rates. The method reveals the HSP70 chaperone cycle to be rate limited by HSP70 holdase activity under normal conditions, but this is overcome by increasing levels of the BAG1 nucleotide exchange factor to HSPA1A or activation of the heat shock gene cluster by HSF1 overexpression. This scheme opens new paths for biosensors of disease and proteostasis systems.

Methods to promote myelin regeneration in response to central myelin loss are essential to prevent the progression of clinical disability in demyelinating diseases. The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is known to promote myelination during development via oligodendrocyte expressed TrkB receptors. Here, we use a structural mimetic of BDNF to promote myelin regeneration in a preclinical mouse model of central demyelination. In female mice, we show that selective targeting of TrkB with the BDNF-mimetic enhances remyelination, increasing oligodendrocyte differentiation, the frequency of myelinated axons, and myelin sheath thickness after a demyelinating insult. Treatment with exogenous BDNF exerted an attenuated effect, increasing myelin sheath thickness only. Further, following conditional deletion of TrkB from premyelinating oligodendrocytes, we show the effects of the BDNF-mimetic on oligodendrocyte differentiation and remyelination are lost, indicating these are dependent on oligodendrocyte expression of TrkB. Overall, these studies demonstrate that targeting oligodendrocyte TrkB promotes remyelination in the brain. Novel strategies to promote myelin regeneration are required to prevent progressive neurodegeneration and clinical disability in patients with central demyelinating disease. Here, we test whether selectively targeting the TrkB receptor on the myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, can promote remyelination in the brain. Using a structural mimetic of its native ligand, BDNF, we show that stimulation of TrkB enhances remyelination, increasing oligodendrocyte differentiation, the frequency of myelinated axons and thickness of the myelin sheath following a demyelinating insult. Further, we show that these effects are dependent on the phosphorylation of oligodendrocyte expressed TrkB receptors Overall, we demonstrate that selective targeting of TrkB has therapeutic potential to promote remyelination in the brain.

This study used immunohistochemistry, retrograde tracing, and high-resolution confocal microscopy to explore the structure and neurochemistry of nerve terminals in the corneal epithelium of mice and guinea pigs. In both species, sub-basal nerves formed a plexus in the basal epithelium. Some axons had bulbar endings within the basal epithelium, but most projected perpendicularly from sub-basal nerves to within a few micrometers of the epithelial surface. Three morphologies for these nerve terminals were identified. Simple terminals did not branch after leaving the sub-basal nerves and ended with a single, bulbar swelling. Ramifying terminals branched in the squamous cell layer, forming horizontal fibers that ran parallel to the surface and terminated with single bulbar swellings. Complex terminals branched as they approached the epithelial surface, forming a cluster of highly branched fibers with multiple bulbar endings. Calcitonin gene-related peptide immunolabeled (peptidergic) axons ended mostly in simple terminals, whereas transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M member 8 immunolabeled (cold receptor) axons ended almost exclusively in complex terminals. Retrograde labeling identified discrete subpopulations of corneal afferent neurons in the trigeminal ganglion. Tyrosine hydroxylase-immunolabeled (sympathetic) nerve terminals originating from the superior cervical ganglion occurred throughout the corneal epithelium of mice, but only in the basal epithelium of guinea pigs. These findings demonstrate that nerve terminals in the corneal epithelium of mice and guinea pigs can be distinguished on the basis of their morphology and neurochemistry, and suggest that nerve terminals with different sensory modalities can be defined on the basis of their morphology.

Recently, a novel class of mechanically sensitive channels has been identified and have been called Piezo channels. In this study, we explored Piezo channel expression in sensory neurons supplying the guinea pig corneal epithelium, which have well-defined modalities in this species. We hypothesized that a proportion of corneal afferent neurons express Piezo2, and that these neurons are neurochemically distinct from corneal polymodal nociceptors or cold-sensing neurons. We used a combination of retrograde tracing to identify corneal afferent neurons and double label in situ hybridization and/or immunohistochemistry to determine their molecular and/or neurochemical profile. We found that Piezo2 expression occurs in ∼26% of trigeminal ganglion neurons and 30% of corneal afferent neurons. Piezo2 corneal afferent neurons are almost exclusively non-calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-immunoreactive (-IR), medium- to large-sized neurons that are NF200-IR, suggesting they are not corneal polymodal nociceptors. There was no coexpression of Piezo2 and transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M member 8 (TRPM8) transcripts in any corneal afferent neurons, further suggesting that Piezo2 is not expressed in corneal cold-sensing neurons. We also noted that TRPM8-IR or CGRP-IR corneal afferent neurons are almost entirely small and lack NF200-IR. Piezo2 expression occurs in a neurochemically distinct subpopulation of corneal afferent neurons that are not polymodal nociceptors or cold-sensing neurons, and is likely confined to a subpopulation of pure mechano-nociceptors in the cornea. This provides the first evidence in an in vivo system that Piezo2 is a strong candidate for a channel that transduces noxious mechanical stimuli.

Polyglutamine (polyGln) expansions in nine human proteins result in neurological diseases and induce the proteins' tendency to form β-rich amyloid fibrils and intracellular deposits. Less well known are at least nine other human diseases caused by polyalanine (polyAla)-expansion mutations in different proteins. The mechanisms of how polyAla aggregates under physiological conditions remain unclear and controversial. We show here that aggregation of polyAla is mechanistically dissimilar to that of polyGln and hence does not exhibit amyloid kinetics. PolyAla assembled spontaneously into α-helical clusters with diverse oligomeric states. Such clustering was pervasive in cells irrespective of visible aggregate formation, and it disrupted the normal physiological oligomeric state of two human proteins natively containing polyAla: ARX and SOX3. This self-assembly pattern indicates that polyAla expansions chronically disrupt protein behavior by imposing a deranged oligomeric status.

c-Src kinase activity is regulated by phosphorylation of Y527 and Y416. Y527 phosphorylation stabilizes a closed conformation, which suppresses kinase activity towards substrates, whereas phosphorylation at Y416 promotes an elevated kinase activity by stabilizing the activation loop in a manner permissive for substrate binding. Here we investigated the correlation of Y416 phosphorylation with c-Src activity when c-Src was locked into the open and closed conformations (by mutations Y527F and Q528E, P529E, G530I respectively). Consistent with prior findings, we found Y416 to be more greatly phosphorylated when c-Src was in an open, active conformation. However, we also observed an appreciable amount of Y416 was phosphorylated when c-Src was in a closed, repressed conformation under conditions by which c-Src was unable to phosphorylate substrate STAT3. The phosphorylation of Y416 in the closed conformation arose by autophosphorylation, since abolishing kinase activity by mutating the ATP binding site (K295M) prevented phosphorylation. Basal Y416 phosphorylation correlated positively with cellular levels of c-Src suggesting autophosphorylation depended on self-association. Using sedimentation velocity analysis on cell lysate with fluorescence detection optics, we confirmed that c-Src forms monomers and dimers, with the open conformation also forming a minor population of larger mass complexes. Collectively, our studies suggest a model by which dimerization of c-Src primes c-Src via Y416 phosphorylation to enable rapid potentiation of activity when Src adopts an open conformation. Once in the open conformation, c-Src can amplify the response by recruiting and phosphorylating substrates such as STAT3 and increasing the extent of autophosphorylation.

The neurotrophin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes central nervous system (CNS) myelination during development and after injury. This is achieved via activation of oligodendrocyte-expressed tropomyosin-related kinase (Trk) B receptors. However, while administration of BDNF has shown beneficial effects, BDNF itself has a poor pharmacokinetic profile. Here, we compare two TrkB-targeted BDNF-mimetics, the structural-mimetic, tricyclic dimeric peptide-6 (TDP6) and the non-peptide small molecule TrkB agonist LM22A-4 in a cuprizone model of central demyelination in female mice. Both mimetics promoted remyelination, increasing myelin sheath thickness and oligodendrocyte densities after 1-week recovery. Importantly, LM22A-4 exerts these effects in an oligodendroglial TrkB-dependent manner. However, analysis of TrkB signaling by LM22A-4 suggests rather than direct activation of TrkB, LM22A-4 exerts its effects via indirect transactivation of Trk receptors. Overall, these studies support the therapeutic strategy to selectively targeting TrkB activation to promote remyelination in the brain.