Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Raquel Coronel, Adela Bernabeu-Zornoza, Charlotte Palmer, Rosa Gonzalez-Sastre, Andreea Rosca, Patricia Mateos-Martinez, Victoria Lopez-Alonso, Isabel Liste
Summary: This study investigates the effects of amyloid precursor protein (APP) overexpression on human neural stem cells (hNSCs) and identifies differentially expressed genes related to neuronal and glial differentiation processes, as well as signaling pathways such as Notch, Wnt, PI3K-AKT, and JAK-STAT.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Raquel Coronel, Victoria Lopez-Alonso, Marta I. Gallego, Isabel Liste
Summary: This article investigates the biological role of APP in hNSCs cells, revealing its association with cell proliferation and cell fate specification.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jinhu Kim, Seungjoon Kim, Hyeonho Kim, In-Wook Hwang, Sungwon Bae, Sudeep Karki, Dongwook Kim, Roberto Ogelman, Geul Bang, Jin Young Kim, Tommi Kajander, Ji Won Um, Won Chan Oh, Jaewon Ko
Summary: Balanced synaptic inhibition is crucial for brain function. MDGA1 suppresses synaptic inhibition in mammalian neurons by interacting with APP, affecting GABAergic synaptic transmission in hippocampal CA1 neurons. Down-regulation of APP specifically suppresses GABAergic transmission strength and inputs in presynaptic interneurons. Overexpression of MDGA1 impairs novel object recognition memory in mice.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Youji Jia, Guodong Wang, Wei Yan, Bo Kong, Yong Xu, Chenglong Wang, Dezhi Tang, Xiaobing Xi
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Psoralen on myelosuppression and elucidate the underlying mechanism. Both cell and animal models were used to observe the impacts of Psoralen on hematopoietic stem cells and bone growth factors. The results showed that Psoralen treatment inhibited cell apoptosis and regulated the expression of bone growth factors and hematopoietic growth factors.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Fu-Sheng Chou, Chu-Yen Chen, An-Chun Lee, Pei-Shan Wang
Summary: Individuals with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are at an increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairment. This study used a murine maternal hypoxia-induced IUGR model to investigate its impact on fetal neural stem cell (NSC) development. It was found that IUGR is associated with a defect in the cell cycle progression of fetal NSCs, leading to a decrease in the number of layer-specific neurons. However, the newly generated neurons in IUGR still maintain their temporal identity.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Swip Draijer, Raissa Timmerman, Jesse Pannekeet, Alexandra van Harten, Elham Aida Farshadi, Julius Kemmer, Demy van Gilst, Ines Chaves, Marco F. M. Hoekman
Summary: Both FoxO transcription factors and the circadian clock play crucial roles in regulating metabolism, cell cycle, cellular stress, and stem cell homeostasis. FoxO3 acts as a regulator of circadian rhythms and neural stem cell proliferation, while its loss disrupts circadian rhythmicity in neural stem cells through regulation of Clock transcriptional levels. The co-occupancy of circadian clock components within FoxO3 regulatory regions suggests that FoxO3 is a Clock-controlled gene. Overall, FoxO3 is an integral part of circadian regulation of neural stem cell homeostasis.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Renato Brandimarti, Elena Irollo, Olimpia Meucci
Summary: Alteration of neuronal protein processing is often associated with neurological disorders and relies on cellular protein trafficking. The amyloidogenic processing of APP, a key player in age-related cognitive impairment, can be redirected towards non-amyloidogenic pathways using the HSV-1 transport protein US9. This approach not only reduces amyloid beta production but also controls other APP-dependent steps leading to neuronal deficits, offering a novel tool to combat cognitive decline in diseases such as Alzheimer's.
MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Yanjun Guo, Qinqiu Wang, Shenghui Chen, Chengfu Xu
Summary: This article summarizes the regulatory effects of APP and its cleavage peptides on metabolism in the central nervous system and peripheral tissues, indicating that peptides generated by non-amyloidogenic processing can have positive effects on metabolism, while those produced by amyloidogenic processing may have negative impacts. Abnormal expression of APP is associated with metabolic diseases (such as diabetes, obesity, etc.) and cancer.
METABOLISM-CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Aslina Pahrudin Arrozi, Siti Nur Syazwani Shukri, Nuraqila Mohd Murshid, Ahmad Baihaqi Ahmad Shahzalli, Wan Zurinah Wan Ngah, Hanafi Ahmad Damanhuri, Suzana Makpol
Summary: This study investigated the modulatory effects of different tocopherol isomers on the APP processing pathway in Alzheimer's disease. Results showed that alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol significantly decreased APP mRNA level and A beta-42 in SH-SY5Y APP Swedish cells, potentially offering a therapeutic approach for reducing amyloid load in AD.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Melanie Roussat, Thomas Jungas, Christophe Audouard, Sofiane Omerani, Francois Medevielle, Eric Agius, Alice Davy, Fabienne Pituello, Sophie Bel-Vialar
Summary: During cortical development, the cell cycle regulator CDC25B plays a crucial role in regulating the balance between different types of progenitor cells and their production of neurons. Deleting CDC25B in apical progenitors leads to an increase in TBR1(+) neurons at the expense of TBR2(+) basal progenitors, due to the lengthening of the G(2) phase.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Jiang Chen, Jun-Sheng Chen, Song Li, Fengning Zhang, Jie Deng, Ling-Hui Zeng, Jun Tan
Summary: Decades of research have shown that amyloid-beta (Aβ) plays an undeniable role in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the focus on the pathological effects of Aβ may overshadow the significance of its metabolic precursor, amyloid precursor protein (APP), in the occurrence and progression of AD. This review explores the various roles of APP in AD, including its structure, functions, enzymatic processing, and potential therapeutic approaches to targeting APP to ameliorate AD pathologies and halt disease progression.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kseniia S. Orobets, Andrey L. Karamyshev
Summary: Alzheimer's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder associated with age or inherited mutations. It is characterized by severe dementia that affects memory, cognitive functions, and daily life. The disease is linked to the accumulation of cytotoxic amyloid beta and hyperphosphorylated tau protein, as well as other pathological features. Various treatment options, such as antibody-based therapy and stem cell transplantation, are being investigated.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yixuan Amy Pei, Ming Pei
Summary: Fetal nucleus pulposus cells (NPC) show the most promising potential for chondrogenic differentiation in hypoxic conditions, with stronger phenotypic stability, while fetal synovium-derived stem cells (SDSC) have less potential for chondrogenic differentiation and exhibit discrepancies in response to hypoxia in adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rhett J. Britton, James M. Hutchison, Charles R. Sanders
Summary: In Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, the proteins of interest are amyloid precursor protein (APP) and tau, which play crucial roles in the disease mechanism. The relationship between A beta and tau pathologies remains unclear, with studies suggesting that A beta may induce or enhance tau protein formation in neurofibrillary tangles.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Wafaa S. Ramadan, Saleh Alkarim
Summary: This study found that ellagic acid therapy can improve episodic memory in an Alzheimer's disease rat model, increase antioxidant capacity, reduce lipid peroxidation products, and decrease neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques in the ERC tissue.
Article
Oncology
Dai Hyun Kim, Se Jeong Lee, Soo Hong Seo, Hyo Hyun Ahn, Byung-Jo Kim, Woong Sun, Im Joo Rhyu
Summary: This study aimed to standardize 3-D imaging and quantification techniques to evaluate epidermal melanocytes. The results showed that the melanocytic nevus area had more melanocytic dendrites and similar numbers of cell bodies compared to the perilesional area. Additionally, the average area and volume of cell bodies increased in the melanocytic nevus area.
PIGMENT CELL & MELANOMA RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Seong-Beom Park, Heung-Yeol Lim, Eun-Young Lee, Seung-Woo Yoo, Hyun-Suk Jung, Eunsoo Lee, Woong Sun, Inah Lee
Summary: The fasciola cinereum (FC) is a subregion of the hippocampus that shows clear anatomical borders with the CA1 and receives inputs from the lateral entorhinal cortex and perirhinal cortex while projecting exclusively to the crest of the DG. Neurotoxic lesions in the FC impair visual contextual memory acquisition and place recognition in rats, suggesting a critical role in contextual pattern separation in the hippocampus.
PROGRESS IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Ju-Hyun Lee, Geon Yoo, Juhyun Choi, Si-Hyung Park, Hyogeun Shin, Renuka Prasad, Yeunehee Lee, Mee Ryung Ahn, Il-Joo Cho, Woong Sun
Summary: The cerebral organoid (CO) model is commonly used in the study of neurodegenerative diseases, but its representation of clinical findings may be limited. In this study, we found that neurons in the CO model from patients with Alzheimer's disease exhibited reduced responsiveness to depolarization, which may be attributed to genetic variations in the induced pluripotent stem cells.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Seongchun Min, Ji Yeon Kim, Hyo Min Cho, Sujin Park, Ji Min Hwang, Hyejin You, Young Chan Chae, Won-Jae Lee, Woong Sun, Dongmin Kang, Sanghyuk Lee, Sang Won Kang
Summary: This study reveals a novel signaling pathway in which mitochondria communicate with the cytosol via the release of heat shock protein 60, leading to the activation of survival genes in the nucleus.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Ju-Hyun Lee, Hyogeun Shin, Mohammed R. Shaker, Hyun Jung Kim, Si-Hyung Park, June Hoan Kim, Namwon Lee, Minjin Kang, Subin Cho, Tae Hwan Kwak, Jong Woon Kim, Mi-Ryoung Song, Seung-Hae Kwon, Dong Wook Han, Sanghyuk Lee, Se-Young Choi, Im Joo Rhyu, Hyun Kim, Dongho Geum, Il-Joo Cho, Woong Sun
Summary: A three-dimensional culture system and protocol for the production of human spinal-cord-like organoids have been developed, which recapitulate the morphogenesis of the early spinal cord and can be used for disease modeling and drug screening.
NATURE BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Dai Hyun Kim, Se Jeong Lee, June Hoan Kim, Sung Jin Park, Soo Hong Seo, Hyo Hyun Ahn, Woong Sun, Byung-Jo Kim, Im Joo Rhyu
Summary: A study was conducted to standardize the 3-D evaluation method of intraepidermal nerve fibers (IENFs) and suggest potential 3-D biomarkers for peripheral neuropathies and pruritic skin disorders. The suction blister method combined with tissue-clearing technique was applied to reconstruct and quantify the detailed structure of IENFs. The study found that the 3-D parameters most significantly related to natural aging were the convex hull two-dimensional perimeter and the total length, which could potentially serve as biomarkers for these conditions.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Boram Lee, Ju-Hyun Lee, Dai Hyun Kim, Eun Sil Kim, Bo Kyoung Seo, Im Joo Rhyu, Woong Sun
Summary: Transparency is crucial for studying and understanding the structure and function of biological specimens. This study improved the recipe for adjusting the refractive index of media and achieved a single-step procedure. It can be used for ECM-rich tissues and can be combined with other methods to further enhance transparency.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Kyubin Seo, Subin Cho, Hyogeun Shin, Aeri Shin, Ju-Hyun Lee, June Hoan Kim, Boram Lee, Hwanseok Jang, Youngju Kim, Hyo Min Cho, Yongdoo Park, Hee Youn Kim, Taeseob Lee, Woong-Yang Park, Yong Jun Kim, Esther Yang, Dongho Geum, Hyun Kim, Il-Joo Cho, Sanghyuk Lee, Jae Ryun Ryu, Woong Sun
Summary: This study successfully generated self-organized polarized spinal cord organoids using a geometrically confined culture system of human pluripotent stem cells. The proportions of dorsal/ventral domains in the organoids can be controlled by changes in the initial size of micropatterns. Mature organoids exhibit highly synchronized neural activity separately in the dorsal and ventral side, indicating functional and structural patterning.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Seunghwan Lee, Mingguang Cui, Donghun Lee, Kihoon Han, Woong Sun, Dongmin Lee
Summary: Accurate spatiotemporal control of multicellular self-organization is crucial in developmental stages, and Wnt signaling plays a major role in determining the anteroposterior axis of the embryo. Researchers developed a genetically encoded optochemogenetic Wnt switch, named optochemoWnt, which successfully modulated Wnt signaling with AND-gated patterns and improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The optochemoWnt switch provides a safeguard against signal leakage and expands the molecular toolbox for developmental biology and tissue engineering.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jisoo Lee, Soohyun Kim, Boram Lee, Yoo-Bin Kim, Kwang Hwan Kim, Gehoon Chung, Sung Joong Lee, Soojin Lee, Woong Sun, Hee-Kyung Park, Se-Young Choi
Summary: Salivary gland cells secrete water in response to neuronal stimulation and are closely connected to other neurons. These cells also express proteins responsible for neuronal function, but their exact role in salivary glands is largely unknown. In this study, the function of Neuronal growth regulator 1 (NEGR1) in salivary gland cells was investigated. NEGR1 was found to be expressed in both mouse and human salivary glands. Knockout of Negr1 gene in mice had no impact on the structure of salivary glands, but it did affect intracellular calcium levels and salivary secretion. NEGR1 was found to influence salivary secretion through muscarinic calcium signaling.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Byung Geun Ha, Yu-Jin Jang, EunSoo Lee, Byung-Gyu Kim, Kyungjae Myung, Woong Sun, Sung-Jin Jeong
Summary: The extracellular matrix (ECM) components play a role in maintaining cellular architecture and tissue morphology. Brain tissue, with its high cell density and weak mechanical strength, poses challenges in decellularization. We successfully obtained ECM components from mouse brains using a combination of decellularization and polymerization methods, which can be useful for obtaining matrisomal data and conducting functional studies.
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Poojitha Pinjala, Kamatham Pushpa Tryphena, Renuka Prasad, Dharmendra Kumar Khatri, Woong Sun, Shashi Bala Singh, Dalapathi Gugulothu, Saurabh Srivastava, Lalitkumar Vora
Summary: Since its discovery in 2012, CRISPR Cas9 has been used as a direct treatment approach for correcting gene mutations and establishing animal models in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease (PD). Stem cell biology has improved over the years, and scientists have developed personalized cell therapy using CRISPR/Cas9 to edit embryonic and patient-derived stem cells. This review emphasizes the importance of CRISPR/Cas9-based stem cell therapy in PD, both for developing disease models and exploring therapeutic strategies.
BIOMATERIALS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Ju-Hyun Lee, Mohammed R. Shaker, Si-Hyung Park, Woong Sun
Summary: In vertebrates, the formation of the neural tube during neurulation is crucial for the development of the central nervous system. However, the specific molecular pathways leading to neural tube defects (NTDs) are not well understood. Through the use of human spinal cord organoids (hSCOs), it was discovered that valproic acid (VPA) can cause defects in neurulation. Further analysis revealed significant changes in cell-cell junctional genes/proteins in VPA-treated organoids, and similar gene expression abnormalities and NTD phenotypes were observed in VPA-treated mouse embryos. This study highlights the importance of hSCOs as a valuable resource for studying the molecular mechanisms of human neurulation.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STEM CELLS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jungryun Kim, Paramesh Jangili, Jeongah Kim, Stephani Edwina Lucia, Jae Ryun Ryu, Renuka Prasad, Soyu Zi, Pilhan Kim, Woong Sun, Jong Seung Kim
Summary: Despite the availability of many fluorescent probes targeting mitochondria, there is still a need for the development of low-cytotoxic probes to improve the accuracy of mitochondrial function assessment. In this study, a novel cyanine-based NIR fluorescent probe, T2, was developed, which selectively targets mitochondria and has significantly low toxicity by modulating the intracellular redox status. Furthermore, T2 inhibits oxidative stress-induced cell death in cortical neurons. This study provides new insights into the development of low-toxic mitochondrial imaging agents by regulating redox homeostasis.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mingguang Cui, Seunghwan Lee, Sung Hwan Ban, Jae Ryun Ryu, Meiying Shen, Soo Hyun Yang, Jin Young Kim, Seul Ki Choi, Jaemin Han, Yoonhee Kim, Kihoon Han, Donghun Lee, Woong Sun, Hyung-Bae Kwon, Dongmin Lee
Summary: Proteases, particularly potyviral protease, have been employed as molecular switches in synthetic biological circuits. LAUNCHER, a single-component switch utilizing circularly permutated tobacco etch virus protease and blue-light-gated substrate, offers superior signal-to-noise ratio and precise payload release, making it suitable for diverse cellular applications and enhanced circuit performance.
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
(2023)