BPAG1 is the major antigenic determinant of autoimmune sera of bullous pemphigoid (BP) patients. It is made by stratified squamous epithelia, where it localizes to the inner surface of specialized integrin-mediated adherens junctions (hemidesmosomes). To explore the function of BPAG1 and its relation to BP, we targeted the removal of the BPAG1 gene in mice. Hemidesmosomes are otherwise normal, but they lack the inner plate and have no cytoskeleton attached. Though not affecting cell growth or substratum adhesion, this compromises mechanical integrity and influences migration. Unexpectedly, the mice also develop severe dystonia and sensory nerve degeneration typical of dystonia musculorum (dt/dt) mice. We show that in at least one other strain of dt/dt mice, BPAG1 gene is defective.

γ-Sarcoglycan is a transmembrane, dystrophin-associated protein expressed in skeletal and cardiac muscle. The murine γ-sarcoglycan gene was disrupted using homologous recombination. Mice lacking γ-sarcoglycan showed pronounced dystrophic muscle changes in early life. By 20 wk of age, these mice developed cardiomyopathy and died prematurely. The loss of γ-sarcoglycan produced secondary reduction of β- and δ-sarcoglycan with partial retention of α- and ε-sarcoglycan, suggesting that β-, γ-, and δ-sarcoglycan function as a unit. Importantly, mice lacking γ-sarco- glycan showed normal dystrophin content and local- ization, demonstrating that myofiber degeneration occurred independently of dystrophin alteration. Furthermore, β-dystroglycan and laminin were left intact, implying that the dystrophin–dystroglycan–laminin mechanical link was unaffected by sarcoglycan deficiency. Apoptotic myonuclei were abundant in skeletal muscle lacking γ-sarcoglycan, suggesting that programmed cell death contributes to myofiber degeneration. Vital staining with Evans blue dye revealed that muscle lacking γ-sarcoglycan developed membrane disruptions like those seen in dystrophin-deficient muscle. Our data demonstrate that sarcoglycan loss was sufficient, and that dystrophin loss was not necessary to cause membrane defects and apoptosis. As a common molecular feature in a variety of muscular dystrophies, sarcoglycan loss is a likely mediator of pathology.

Victims of major electrical trauma frequently suffer extensive skeletal muscle and nerve damage, which is postulated to be principally mediated by electroporation and/or thermally driven cell membrane permeabilization. We have investigated the efficacy oftwo blood-compatible chemical surfactants for sealing electroporated muscle membranes. In studies using cultured skeletal muscle cells, poloxamer 188 (P188; an 8. Membrane damage is often manifested clinically by release of intracellular contents into the intravascular space (5), one of the clinical hallmarks of major electrical trauma. Skeletal muscle and peripheral nerve necrosis appears to be the primary cause of the high amputation rates associated with electrical trauma. We have postulated that, in the majority of victims, cell membrane permeabilization is the most important pathophysiologic event leading to tissue death (4,6,7) and, therefore, effective therapy for victims of electric shock must reestablish cell membrane structural integrity.Because membranes form spontaneously when surfactants (amphiphiles) are mixed in an aqueous solvent at sufficient concentration, we hypothesized that it may be possible to seal damaged cell membranes by exposing them to adequate concentrations of a noncytotoxic nonionic surfactant, possibly by incorporation of the surfactant into the membrane defects. In a preliminary test of this concept, we found that an 8.4-kDa nonionic synthetic surfactant, poloxamer 188 (P188), which has been clinically accepted for human intravenous administration, effectively sealed electroporated membranes of cultured skeletal muscle cells when used in concentrations >0.5 mg/ml (8, 9). We also noted that sealing the membrane enhanced cell survival as measured by vital dye [i.e., carboxyfluorescein (CF) and trypan blue] assays. The ability of P188 to bind to damaged membranes has been suggested in previous studies (10, 11).The purposes of this investigation were to determine whether the observed membrane effects of P188 on isolated cells were relatively specific to its molecular properties by comparing P188 with a neutral polysaccharide known to adsorb on the lipid bilayer (12), to determine whether the P188 and neutral polysaccharide would also reach damaged cell membranes in situ via intravenous administration and seal them after electropermeabilization, and, most important, to determine whether membrane sealing could prevent tissue necrosis following electrical injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS

BackgroundWorldwide, approximately two billion people are chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii with largely unknown consequences.MethodsTo better understand long-term effects and pathogenesis of this common, persistent brain infection, mice were infected at a time in human years equivalent to early to mid adulthood and studied 5–12 months later. Appearance, behavior, neurologic function and brain MRIs were studied. Additional analyses of pathogenesis included: correlation of brain weight and neurologic findings; histopathology focusing on brain regions; full genome microarrays; immunohistochemistry characterizing inflammatory cells; determination of presence of tachyzoites and bradyzoites; electron microscopy; and study of markers of inflammation in serum. Histopathology in genetically resistant mice and cytokine and NRAMP knockout mice, effects of inoculation of isolated parasites, and treatment with sulfadiazine or αPD1 ligand were studied.ResultsTwelve months after infection, a time equivalent to middle to early elderly ages, mice had behavioral and neurological deficits, and brain MRIs showed mild to moderate ventricular dilatation. Lower brain weight correlated with greater magnitude of neurologic abnormalities and inflammation. Full genome microarrays of brains reflected inflammation causing neuronal damage (Gfap), effects on host cell protein processing (ubiquitin ligase), synapse remodeling (Complement 1q), and also increased expression of PD-1L (a ligand that allows persistent LCMV brain infection) and CD 36 (a fatty acid translocase and oxidized LDL receptor that mediates innate immune response to beta amyloid which is associated with pro-inflammation in Alzheimer's disease). Immunostaining detected no inflammation around intra-neuronal cysts, practically no free tachyzoites, and only rare bradyzoites. Nonetheless, there were perivascular, leptomeningeal inflammatory cells, particularly contiguous to the aqueduct of Sylvius and hippocampus, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and activated microglia in perivascular areas and brain parenchyma. Genetically resistant, chronically infected mice had substantially less inflammation.ConclusionIn outbred mice, chronic, adult acquired T. gondii infection causes neurologic and behavioral abnormalities secondary to inflammation and loss of brain parenchyma. Perivascular inflammation is prominent particularly contiguous to the aqueduct of Sylvius and hippocampus. Even resistant mice have perivascular inflammation. This mouse model of chronic T. gondii infection raises questions of whether persistence of this parasite in brain can cause inflammation or neurodegeneration in genetically susceptible hosts.

Mice heterozygous for the radiation-induced Sprawling (Swl) mutation display an early-onset sensory neuropathy with muscle spindle deficiency. The lack of an H reflex despite normal motor nerve function in the hindlimbs of these mutants strongly suggests defective proprioception. Immunohistochemical analyses reveal that proprioceptive sensory neurons are severely compromised in the lumbar dorsal root ganglia of newborn Swl/ϩ mice, whereas motor neuron numbers remain unaltered even in aged animals. We have used positional cloning to identify a nine base-pair deletion in the cytoplasmic dynein heavy chain 1 gene (Dync1h1) in this mutant. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Loa/ϩ mice, which have previously been shown to carry a missense point mutation in Dync1h1 that results in late-onset motor neuron loss, also present with a severe, early-onset proprioceptive sensory neuropathy. Interestingly, in contrast to the Loa mutation, the Swl mutation does not delay disease progression in a motor neuron disease mouse model overexpressing a human mutant superoxide dismutase (SOD1 G93A ) transgene. Together, we provide in vivo evidence that distinct mutations in cytoplasmic dynein can either result in a pure sensory neuropathy or in a sensory neuropathy with motor neuron involvement.