Motivation Cell-type-specific surface proteins can be exploited as valuable markers for a range of applications including immunophenotyping live cells, targeted drug delivery and in vivo imaging. Despite their utility and relevance, the unique combination of molecules present at the cell surface are not yet described for most cell types. A significant challenge in analyzing ‘omic’ discovery datasets is the selection of candidate markers that are most applicable for downstream applications. Results Here, we developed GenieScore, a prioritization metric that integrates a consensus-based prediction of cell surface localization with user-input data to rank-order candidate cell-type-specific surface markers. In this report, we demonstrate the utility of GenieScore for analyzing human and rodent data from proteomic and transcriptomic experiments in the areas of cancer, stem cell and islet biology. We also demonstrate that permutations of GenieScore, termed IsoGenieScore and OmniGenieScore, can efficiently prioritize co-expressed and intracellular cell-type-specific markers, respectively. Availability and implementation Calculation of GenieScores and lookup of SPC scores is made freely accessible via the SurfaceGenie web application: www.cellsurfer.net/surfacegenie. Contact Rebekah.gundry@unmc.edu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Action potential (AP) burst firing caused by the activation of low-voltage-activated T-type Ca 21 channels is a unique mode of neuronal firing. T-type channels have been implicated in diverse physiological and pathophysiological processes, including epilepsy, autism, and mood regulation, but the brain structures involved remain incompletely understood. The medial habenula (MHb) is an epithalamic structure implicated in anxiety-like and withdrawal behavior. Previous studies have shown that MHb neurons fire tonic APs at a frequency of ;2-10 Hz or display depolarized low-amplitude membrane oscillations. Here, we report in C57BL/6J mice that a subpopulation of MHb neurons are capable of firing transient, high-frequency AP bursts mediated by T-type channels. Burst firing was observed following rebounding from hyperpolarizing current injections or during depolarization from hyperpolarized membrane potentials in ;20% of MHb neurons. It was rarely observed at baseline but could be evoked in MHb neurons displaying different initial activity states. Further, we show that T-type channel mRNA, in particular Ca v 3.1, is expressed in the MHb in both cholinergic and substance Pergic neurons. Pharmacological Ca v 3 antagonism blocked both burst firing and evoked Ca 21 currents in MHb neurons. Additionally, we observed high-frequency AP doublet firing at sustained depolarized membrane potentials that was independent of T-type channels. Thus, there is a greater diversity of AP firing patterns in MHb neurons than previously identified, including T-type channel-mediated burst firing, which may uniquely contribute to behaviors with relevance to neuropsychiatric disease.
MotivationCell-type specific surface proteins can be exploited as valuable markers for a range of applications including immunophenotyping live cells, targeted drug delivery, and in vivo imaging. Despite their utility and relevance, the unique combination of molecules present at the cell surface are not yet described for most cell types. A significant challenge in analyzing ‘omic’ discovery datasets is the selection of candidate markers that are most applicable for downstream applications.ResultsHere, we developed GenieScore, a prioritization metric that integrates a consensus-based prediction of cell surface localization with user-input data to rank-order candidate cell-type specific surface markers. In this report, we demonstrate the utility of GenieScore for analyzing human and rodent data from proteomic and transcriptomic experiments in the areas of cancer, stem cell, and islet biology. We also demonstrate that permutations of GenieScore, termed IsoGenieScore and OmniGenieScore, can efficiently prioritize co-expressed and intracellular cell-type specific markers, respectively.Availability and ImplementationCalculation of GenieScores and lookup of SPC scores is made freely accessible via the SurfaceGenie web-application: www.cellsurfer.net/surfacegenie.
Repeated exposure to drugs of abuse results in an upregulation of cAMP signaling in the mesolimbic dopamine system, a molecular adaptation thought to be critically involved in the development of drug dependence. Exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac2) is a major cAMP effector abundantly expressed in the brain. However, it remains unknown whether Epac2 contributes to cocaine reinforcement. Here, we report that Epac2 in the mesolimbic dopamine system promotes cocaine reinforcement via enhancement of dopamine release. Conditional knockout of Epac2 from midbrain dopamine neurons (Epac2-cKO) and the selective Epac2 inhibitor ESI-05 decreased cocaine self-administration in mice under both fixed-ratio and progressive-ratio reinforcement schedules and across a broad range of cocaine doses. In addition, Epac2-cKO led to reduced evoked dopamine release, whereas Epac2 agonism robustly enhanced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens in vitro. This mechanism is central to the behavioral effects of Epac2 disruption, as chemogenetic stimulation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons via deschloroclozapine (DCZ)-induced activation of Gs-DREADD increased dopamine release and reversed the impairment of cocaine self-administration in Epac2-cKO mice. Conversely, chemogenetic inhibition of VTA dopamine neurons with Gi-DREADD reduced dopamine release and cocaine self-administration in wild-type mice. Epac2-mediated enhancement of dopamine release may therefore represent a novel and powerful mechanism that contributes to cocaine reinforcement.
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