(2011) p62, Ref(2)P and ubiquitinated proteins are conserved markers of neuronal aging, aggregate formation and progressive autophagic defects, Autophagy, 7:6, 572-583,

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In addition, there has been a growing appreciation that even repetitive, milder forms of TBI (mTBI) can have long-term deleterious consequences to neural tissues. Hampering our understanding of genetic and environmental factors that influence the cellular and molecular responses to injury has been the limited availability of effective genetic model systems that could be used to identify the key genes and pathways that modulate both the acute and long-term responses to TBI. Here we report the development of a severe and mild-repetitive TBI model using Drosophila. Using this system, key features that are typically found in mammalian TBI models were also identified in flies, including the activation of inflammatory and autophagy responses, increased Tau phosphorylation and neuronal defects that impair sleep-related behaviors. This novel injury paradigm demonstrates the utility of Drosophila as an effective tool to validate genetic and environmental factors that influence the whole animal response to trauma and to identify prospective therapies needed for the treatment of TBI.

Binge alcohol consumption in adolescents is increasing, and studies in animal models show that adolescence is a period of high vulnerability to brain insults. The purpose of the present study was to determine the deleterious effects of binge alcohol on hippocampal neurogenesis in adolescent nonhuman primates. Heavy binge alcohol consumption over 11 mo dramatically and persistently decreased hippocampal proliferation and neurogenesis. Combinatorial analysis revealed distinct, actively dividing hippocampal neural progenitor cell types in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus that were in transition from stem-like radial glia-like cells (type 1) to immature transiently amplifying neuroblasts (type 2a, type 2b, and type 3), suggesting the evolutionary conservation of milestones of neuronal development in macaque monkeys. Alcohol significantly decreased the number of actively dividing type 1, 2a, and 2b cell types without significantly altering the early neuronal type 3 cells, suggesting that alcohol interferes with the division and migration of hippocampal preneuronal progenitors. Furthermore, the lasting alcohol-induced reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis paralleled an increase in neural degeneration mediated by nonapoptotic pathways. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the hippocampal neurogenic niche during adolescence is highly vulnerable to alcohol and that alcohol decreases neuronal turnover in adolescent nonhuman primate hippocampus by altering the ongoing process of neuronal development. This lasting effect, observed 2 mo after alcohol discontinuation, may underlie the deficits in hippocampus-associated cognitive tasks that are observed in alcoholics.self-administration | binge drinking | hippocampal stem cells | neuronal development | cell death

Multiple neurological disorders are characterized by the abnormal accumulation of protein aggregates and the progressive impairment of complex behaviors. Our Drosophila studies demonstrate that middle-aged wild-type flies (WT, ~4-weeks) exhibit a marked accumulation of neural aggregates that is commensurate with the decline of the autophagy pathway. However, enhancing autophagy via neuronal over-expression of Atg8a (Atg8a-OE) reduces the age-dependent accumulation of aggregates. Here we assess basal locomotor activity profiles for single- and group-housed male and female WT flies and observed that only modest behavioral changes occurred by 4-weeks of age, with the noted exception of group-housed male flies. Male flies in same-sex social groups exhibit a progressive increase in nighttime activity. Infrared videos show aged group-housed males (4-weeks) are engaged in extensive bouts of courtship during periods of darkness, which is partly repressed during lighted conditions. Together, these nighttime courtship behaviors were nearly absent in young WT flies and aged Atg8a-OE flies. Previous studies have indicated a regulatory role for olfaction in male courtship partner choice. Coincidently, the mRNA expression profiles of several olfactory genes decline with age in WT flies; however, they are maintained in age-matched Atg8a-OE flies. Together, these results suggest that middle-aged male flies develop impairments in olfaction, which could contribute to the dysregulation of courtship behaviors during dark time periods. Combined, our results demonstrate that as Drosophila age, they develop early behavior defects that are coordinate with protein aggregate accumulation in the nervous system. In addition, the nighttime activity behavior is preserved when neuronal autophagy is maintained (Atg8a-OE flies). Thus, environmental or genetic factors that modify autophagic capacity could have a positive impact on neuronal aging and complex behaviors.

The autophagy pathway is critical for the long-term homeostasis of cells and adult organisms and is often activated during periods of stress. Reduced pathway efficacy plays a central role in several progressive neurological disorders that are associated with the accumulation of cytotoxic peptides and protein aggregates. Previous studies have shown that genetic and transgenic alterations to the autophagy pathway impacts longevity and neural aggregate profiles of adult Drosophila. In this study, we have identified methods to measure the acute in vivo induction of the autophagy pathway in the adult fly CNS. Our findings indicate that the genotype, age, and gender of adult flies can influence pathway responses. Further, we demonstrate that middle-aged male flies exposed to intermittent fasting (IF) had improved neuronal autophagic profiles. IF-treated flies also had lower neural aggregate profiles, maintained more youthful behaviors and longer lifespans, when compared to ad libitum controls. In summary, we present methodology to detect dynamic in vivo changes that occur to the autophagic profiles in the adult Drosophila CNS and that a novel IF-treatment protocol improves pathway response in the aging nervous system.

Ethanol exposure and withdrawal alter the generation of new neurons in the adult hippocampus. The endogenous opioid system, in particular the μ opioid receptor (MOR), can modulate neural progenitors and also plays a critical role in ethanol drinking and dependence. In the present study, we sought to determine whether MOR contributes to the effects of ethanol on the dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenic niche. MOR wild-type (WT), heterozygous (Het) and knockout (KO) littermates were subjected to voluntary ethanol drinking in repeated limited-access two-bottle choice (2BC) sessions. MOR deficiency did not alter progenitor proliferation, neuronal differentiation and maturation, apoptosis or microglia in ethanol-naïve mice. When exposed to five consecutive weeks of 2BC, MOR mutant mice exhibited a gene-dosage dependent reduction of ethanol consumption compared to WT mice. Introducing a week of ethanol deprivation between each week of 2BC increased ethanol consumption in all genotypes and produced equivalent intakes in WT, Het and KO mice. Under the latter paradigm, ethanol drinking decreased progenitor proliferation and neuronal differentiation in the DG of WT mice. Interestingly, WT mice exhibited a strong negative correlation between ethanol intake and proliferation, which was disrupted in Het and KO mice. Moreover, MOR deficiency blocked the effect of ethanol on neuronal differentiation. MOR deficiency also protected against the neuroimmune response to ethanol drinking. Finally, chronic binge drinking induced a paradoxical decrease in apoptosis, which was independent of MOR. Altogether our data suggest that MOR is implicated in some of the neuroplastic changes produced by chronic ethanol exposure in the DG.

The progressive decline of the nervous system, including protein aggregate formation, reflects the subtle dysregulation of multiple functional pathways. Our previous work has shown intermittent fasting (IF) enhances longevity, maintains adult behaviors and reduces aggregates, in part, by promoting autophagic function in the aging Drosophila brain. To clarify the impact that IF-treatment has upon aging, we used high throughput RNA-sequencing technology to examine the changing transcriptome in adult Drosophila tissues. Principle component analysis (PCA) and other analyses showed ~1200 age-related transcriptional differences in head and muscle tissues, with few genes having matching expression patterns. Pathway components showing age-dependent expression differences were involved with stress response, metabolic, neural and chromatin remodeling functions. Middle-aged tissues also showed a significant increase in transcriptional drift-variance (TD), which in the CNS included multiple proteolytic pathway components. Overall, IF-treatment had a demonstrably positive impact on aged transcriptomes, partly ameliorating both fold and variance changes. Consistent with these findings, aged IF-treated flies displayed more youthful metabolic, behavioral and basal proteolytic profiles that closely correlated with transcriptional alterations to key components. These results indicate that even modest dietary changes can have therapeutic consequences, slowing the progressive decline of multiple cellular systems, including proteostasis in the aging nervous system.

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