Since the emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV), reports of microcephaly have increased considerably in Brazil; however, causality between the viral epidemic and malformations in fetal brains needs further confirmation. We examined the effects of ZIKV infection in human neural stem cells growing as neurospheres and brain organoids. Using immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy, we showed that ZIKV targets human brain cells, reducing their viability and growth as neurospheres and brain organoids. These results suggest that ZIKV abrogates neurogenesis during human brain development. P rimary microcephaly is a severe brain malformation characterized by the reduction of the head circumference. Patients display a heterogeneous range of brain impairments that compromise motor, visual, hearing, and cognitive functions (1).Microcephaly is associated with decreased neuronal production as a consequence of proliferative defects and death of cortical progenitor cells (2). During pregnancy, the primary etiology of microcephaly varies from genetic mutations to external insults. The so-called TORCHS factors (toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes virus, and syphilis) are the main congenital infections that compromise brain development in utero (3).An increase in the rate of microcephaly in Brazil has been associated with the recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) (4, 5), a flavivirus that is transmitted by mosquitoes (6) and sexually (7-9). So far, ZIKV has been described in the placenta and amniotic fluid of microcephalic fetuses (10-13) and in the blood of microcephalic newborns (11, 14). ZIKV had also been detected within the brain of a microcephalic fetus (13, 14), and recently, direct evidence has emerged that ZIKV is able to infect and cause the death of neural stem cells (15).We used human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells cultured as neural stem cells (NSCs), neurospheres, and brain organoids to explore the consequences of ZIKV infection during neurogenesis and growth with three-dimensional culture models. Human iPS-derived NSCs were exposed to ZIKV [multiplicity of infection (MOI), 0.25 to 0.0025]. After 24 hours, ZIKV was detected in NSCs (Fig. 1, A to D); viral envelope protein was evident in 10.10% (MOI, 0.025) and 21.7% (MOI, 0.25) of cells exposed to ZIKV (Fig. 1E). Viral RNA was also detected in the supernatant of infected NSCs (MOI, 0.0025) by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) ( Fig. 1F), providing evidence of productive infection.To investigate the effects of ZIKV during neural differentiation, mock-and ZIKV-infected NSCs were cultured as neurospheres. After 3 days in vitro (DIV), mock-infected NSCs generated round neurospheres. However, ZIKVinfected NSCs generated neurospheres with morphological abnormalities and cell detachment ( Mock-infected neurospheres presented the expected ultrastructural morphology of the nucleus and mitochondria (Fig. 3A). Viral particles were present in ZIKV-infected neurospheres, similar to those observed in murine glial and neuronal cel...

Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with microcephaly and other brain abnormalities; however, the molecular consequences of ZIKV to human brain development are still not fully understood. Here we describe alterations in human neurospheres derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells infected with the strain of Zika virus that is circulating in Brazil. Combining proteomics and mRNA transcriptional profiling, over 500 proteins and genes associated with the Brazilian ZIKV infection were found to be differentially expressed. These genes and proteins provide an interactome map, which indicates that ZIKV controls the expression of RNA processing bodies, miRNA biogenesis and splicing factors required for self-replication. It also suggests that impairments in the molecular pathways underpinning cell cycle and neuronal differentiation are caused by ZIKV. These results point to biological mechanisms implicated in brain malformations, which are important to further the understanding of ZIKV infection and can be exploited as therapeutic potential targets to mitigate it.

The limited access to functional human brain tissue has led to the development of stem cell-based alternative models. The differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into cerebral organoids with self-organized architecture has created novel opportunities to study the early stages of the human cerebral formation. Here we applied state-of-the-art label-free shotgun proteomics to compare the proteome of stem cell-derived cerebral organoids to the human fetal brain. We identified 3,073 proteins associated with different developmental stages, from neural progenitors to neurons, astrocytes, or oligodendrocytes. The major protein groups are associated with neurogenesis, axon guidance, synaptogenesis, and cortical brain development. Glial cell proteins related to cell growth and maintenance, energy metabolism, cell communication, and signaling were also described. Our data support the variety of cells and neural network functional pathways observed within cell-derived cerebral organoids, confirming their usefulness as an alternative model. The characterization of brain organoid proteome is key to explore, in a dish, atypical and disrupted processes during brain development or neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disease characterized by cerebral connectivity impairment and loss of gray matter. It was described in adult schizophrenia patients (SZP) that concentration of VEGFA, a master angiogenic factor, is decreased. Recent evidence suggests cerebral hypoperfusion related to a dysfunctional Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) in SZP. Since neurogenesis and blood-vessel formation occur in a coincident and coordinated fashion, a defect in neurovascular development could result in increased vascular permeability and, therefore, in poor functionality of the SZP’s neurons. Here, we characterized the conditioned media (CM) of human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSC)-derived Neural Stem Cells of SZP (SZP NSC) versus healthy subjects (Ctrl NSC), and its impact on angiogenesis. Our results reveal that SZP NSC have an imbalance in the secretion and expression of several angiogenic factors, among them non-canonical neuro-angiogenic guidance factors. SZP NSC migrated less and their CM was less effective in inducing migration and angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Since SZP originates during embryonic brain development, our findings suggest a defective crosstalk between NSC and endothelial cells (EC) during the formation of the neuro-angiogenic niche.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) mitochondria thermogenesis is regulated by uncoupling protein 1 (UCP 1), GDP and fatty acids. In this report, we observed fusion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane with the mitochondrial outer membrane of rats BAT. Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA 1) was identified by immunoelectron microscopy in both ER and mitochondria. This finding led us to test the Ca2+ effect in BAT mitochondria thermogenesis. We found that Ca2+ increased the rate of respiration and heat production measured with a microcalorimeter both in coupled and uncoupled mitochondria, but had no effect on the rate of ATP synthesis. The Ca2+ concentration needed for half-maximal activation varied between 0.08 and 0.11 µM. The activation of respiration was less pronounced than that of heat production. Heat production and ATP synthesis were inhibited by rotenone and KCN.Liver mitochondria have no UCP1 and during respiration synthesize a large amount of ATP, produce little heat, GDP had no effect on mitochondria coupling, Ca2+ strongly inhibited ATP synthesis and had little or no effect on the small amount of heat released. These finding indicate that Ca2+ activation of thermogenesis may be a specific feature of BAT mitochondria not found in other mitochondria such as liver.

BackgroundTumor cells are characterized by accelerated growth usually accompanied by up-regulated pathways that ultimately increase the rate of ATP production. These cells can suffer metabolic reprogramming, resulting in distinct bioenergetic phenotypes, generally enhancing glycolysis channeled to lactate production. In the present work we showed metabolic reprogramming by means of inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HDACis), sodium butyrate and trichostatin. This treatment was able to shift energy metabolism by activating mitochondrial systems such as the respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation that were largely repressed in the untreated controls.Methodology/Principal FindingsVarious cellular and biochemical parameters were evaluated in lung cancer H460 cells treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis), sodium butyrate (NaB) and trichostatin A (TSA). NaB and TSA reduced glycolytic flux, assayed by lactate release by H460 cells in a concentration dependent manner. NaB inhibited the expression of glucose transporter type 1 (GLUT 1), but substantially increased mitochondria bound hexokinase (HK) activity. NaB induced increase in HK activity was associated to isoform HK I and was accompanied by 1.5 fold increase in HK I mRNA expression and cognate protein biosynthesis. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and pyruvate kinase (PYK) activities were unchanged by HDACis suggesting that the increase in the HK activity was not coupled to glycolytic flux. High resolution respirometry of H460 cells revealed NaB-dependent increased rates of oxygen consumption coupled to ATP synthesis. Metabolomic analysis showed that NaB altered the glycolytic metabolite profile of intact H460 cells. Concomitantly we detected an activation of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). The high O2 consumption in NaB-treated cells was shown to be unrelated to mitochondrial biogenesis since citrate synthase (CS) activity and the amount of mitochondrial DNA remained unchanged.ConclusionNaB and TSA induced an increase in mitochondrial function and oxidative metabolism in H460 lung tumor cells concomitant with a less proliferative cellular phenotype.

In brown adipose tissue (BAT) adrenaline promotes a rise of the cytosolic Ca 2؉ concentration from 0.05 up to 0.70 M. It is not known how the rise of Ca 2؉ concentration activates BAT thermogenesis. In this report we compared the effects of Ca 2؉ in BAT and liver mitochondria. Using electron microscopy and immunolabeling we identified a sarco/endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca 2؉ -ATPase bound to the inner membrane of BAT mitochondria. A Ca 2؉ -dependent ATPase activity was detected in BAT mitochondria when the respiratory substrates malate and pyruvate were included in the medium. ATP and Ca 2؉ enhanced the amount of heat produced by BAT mitochondria during respiration. The Ca 2؉ concentration needed for half-maximal activation of the ATPase activity and rate of heat production were the same and varied between 0.1 and 0.2 M. Heat production was partially inhibited by the proton ionophore carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone and abolished by thapsigargin, a specific ER Ca 2؉ -ATPase inhibitor, and by both rotenone and KCN, two substances that inhibit the electron transfer trough the mitochondrial cytochrome chain. In liver mitochondria Ca 2؉ did not stimulate the ATPase activity nor increase the rate of heat production. Thapsigargin had no effect on liver mitochondria. In conclusion, this is the first report of a Ca 2؉ -ATPase in mitochondria that is BAT-specific and can generate heat in the presence of Ca 2؉ concentrations similar to those noted in the cell during adrenergic stimulation. BAT3 is capable of rapidly converting fat stores to heat and has been used as a model system for the understanding of nonshivering heat production and mechanisms of energy wasting to control obesity (1-9). The signal that activates the rate of heat production in BAT cells is the rise of the cytosolic Ca 2ϩ concentration from a basal level of 0.05 M up to the range of 0.2-0.7 M. This is promoted by ␣ 1 -and ␤ 3 -adrenergic receptors located in the cell membrane. Activation of ␣ 1 -adrenoreceptors leads to the release of Ca 2ϩ from intracellular stores into the cytosol, whereas ␤ 3 -adrenergic receptors promote the release of free fatty acids and increase the effect of Ca 2ϩ release induced by ␣ 1 -adrenoreceptors (10, 11). At present we do not know how the rise of the cytosolic Ca 2ϩ concentration activates the rate of heat production in BAT cells.In a previous report (12) we identified a sarco/ER Ca 2ϩ ATPase (SERCA 1) in vesicles derived from BAT ER. In this report we show that the rate of heat produced by BAT mitochondria is enhanced when the Ca 2ϩ concentration in the medium is raised to a level similar to that observed in BAT cells during adrenergic stimulation. This effect is not observed in liver mitochondria, a tissue that is not specialized in heat production. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Isolation of Mitochondria from Rat BAT and Liver-Adult maleWistar rats were killed by decapitation. Mitochondria were isolated as previously described (13). Briefly, interscapular BAT and liver were removed and homogenized in a mix...

SummaryThe Ca 2 + -ATPase (SERCA) found in vesicles derived from the sarco/endoplasmic reticulum vesicles of rats brown adipose tissue and rabbit white muscle were identified by gel electrophoresis, Western blot, electron microscopy and immunolabeling with gold particles. In both tissues, the isoform found was SERCA 1. The Ca 2 + affinity of the fat SERCA 1 was different from the muscle isoform. The degree of uncoupling is estimated measuring the ratio between Ca 2 + transport and ATP cleaved. In brown fat vesicles the degree of uncoupling varied depending on the Ca 2 + concentration of the medium. This was not observed in vesicles derived from muscle. At all Ca 2 + concentrations tested, the uncoupling was not related to Ca 2 + leakage from the membrane and was far more pronounced in fat than in muscle vesicle. When a Ca 2 + gradient was formed across the vesicles membrane the heat released during ATP hydrolysis varied between 22 and 26 Kcal/mol in both fat and muscle vesicles but in the absence of a gradient the heat released was 17 Kcal/mol in fat and 12 Kcal/mol in muscle. The data reported indicate that the SERCA 1 of brown adipocytes is far more thermogenic than the white muscle SERCA 1, and suggest that, in addition to storing Ca 2 + inside the endoplasmic reticulum, the SERCA 1 may represent a source of heat production contributing to the thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue. IUBMB Life, 57: 337 -345, 2005