Biology subjects

Chambers, N. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Chambers, N. E..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

M5 positive allosteric modulation alleviates parkinsonian motor deficits

Parkinsons disease is a neurodegenerative movement disorder which is characterized by cardinal motor symptoms of tremor at rest, rigidity, bradykineasia, and postural instability. Underlying these cardinal motor symptoms is thought to be death and dysfunction of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons, and the gold-standard treatment of Parkinsons disease is dopamine replacement therapy with the dopamine precursor L-DOPA. While efficacious, L-DOPA does not treat all motor symptoms and can have serious treatment-related side effects called L-DOPA induced dyskinesias, indicating an immense need for new targets to modulate dopaminergic function for anti-parkinsonian efficacy. One such potential target is the M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, which has a unique expression profile where it is selectively expressed in midbrain dopaminergic neurons and their terminals in the striatum, and previous studies have indicated that M5 can modulate dopamine release and patterning of firing of dopamine neurons. Given this unique expression profile and function of M5, this receptor has an untested potential to modulate parkinsonian motor phenotypes. To test the potential for M5 to modulate Parkinsonian-like motor deficits and dyskinesia, we employed the unilateral 6-OHDA lesioned mouse model to create a hemi-parkinsonian state. Using multiple behavioral assays, including the cylinder test, forepaw adjusting steps assay, and in the Erasmus ladder, in conjunction with prototypical M5 pharmacological tool compounds, we investigated the ability of M5 to modulate parkinsonian motor deficits. Additionally, we tested the ability of M5 to modulate established L-DOPA induced dyskinesia or cause dyskinesia on its own. Overall, we found that M5 PAM alleviates forepaw asymmetry, bradykinesia, and spatial aspects of gait in the Erasmus ladder. Excitingly, M5 PAM does not cause robust dyskinesia, does not affect already established L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia, and does not affect L-DOPA motor efficacy. Taken together with previous findings, the current study suggests that M5 receptors are an exciting novel therapeutic strategy for ameliorating parkinsonian motor deficits even in late-stage models of severe PD without lessening L-DOPAs motor benefit and without affecting existing symptoms of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Aggregated α-synuclein leads to corticostriatal synaptic dysfunction

Neuronal inclusions of -synuclein (-syn) are pathological hallmarks of Parkinsons disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). -Syn pathology accumulates in cortical neurons which project to the striatum. To begin to understand how -syn pathology effects cortico-striatal synapses, pre-formed -syn fibrils (PFF) were injected into the striatum to induce robust -syn aggregation in corticostriatal-projecting neurons. Electrophysiological recordings of striatal spiny projection neurons (SPNs) acute slices found a significant decrease in evoked corticostriatal glutamate release in mice with PFF-induced aggregates compared to monomer injected mice. Expansion microscopy, confocal microscopy and Imaris reconstructions were used to identify vGLUT1 positive presynaptic terminals juxtaposed to Homer-positive postsynaptic densities, termed synaptic foci. Quantitation of synaptic loci density revealed a loss of corticostriatal synapses. Immunoblots of the striatum show reductions in expression of pre-synaptic proteins with selective reduction in AMPA and NMDA receptor subunits in mice with -syn aggregates compared to controls. Paradoxically, a small percentage of remaining VLGUT1+ synaptic loci with small, intrasynaptic -syn aggregates showed enlarged volumes compared to nearby synapses without -syn aggregates. Our combined physiology and high-resolution imaging data point to dysfunction of corticostriatal synapses in mice harboring {square}-synuclein inclusions, which may contribute to impaired basal ganglia circuitry in PD. Highlights- Corticostriatal glutamate drive is impaired in the presence of pathological -syn - -Syn aggregation causes early loss of corticostriatal synapses - Synaptic loci positive for small -syn aggregates show volume increases - Striatal expression of select synaptic proteins are reduced in animals with -syn pathology

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Conditional Knockout of Striatal Gnal Produces Dystonia-like Motor Phenotypes

Loss-of-function mutations in GNAL have been linked to an adult-onset, isolated dystonia that is largely indistinguishable from idiopathic dystonia. GNAL encodes Golf, a heterotrimeric G-protein subunit with a defined molecular function to increase the production of the second messenger cAMP. Golf is abundant in the striatum, and is the only stimulatory G-protein in many cell types of the striatum. Due to the defined molecular signaling pathway and expression pattern of Golf, the clear genetic link to dystonia makes GNAL an exciting target to understand the pathological mechanisms of not only this genetic dystonia, but also the larger idiopathic disease. To better understand GNAL-linked dystonia, we generated a novel genetic mouse model that allows us to conditionally knock out Gnal in a site and time-specific manner. In the current study we used genetic or AAV based approaches to express Cre to knockout striatal Gnal in our novel Gnal fl/fl model. We then performed motor behavioral testing and ex vivo whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology of striatal spiny projection neurons to interrogate how loss of Gnal leads to dystonia. Mice with conditional striatal knockout of Gnal show hindlimb clasping, other dystonia-like postures, less motor coordination, slowness, and torticollis as compared to age-matched controls. Furthermore, striatal spiny projection neurons show increased excitability in Gnal knockout animals. These exciting data are the first to report uninduced, overt dystonia in a mouse model of GNAL-linked dystonia, and directly correlate these with changes in spiny projection neuron electrophysiological properties. Our results show that adult loss of Gnal in the striatum leads to the development of dystonia, through homeostatic, paradoxical increases in spiny projection neuron excitability, and suggest that therapeutic strategies aimed at decreasing this hyperexcitable phenotype may provide symptomatic relief for patients with disease. One Sentence Summary: When Gnal is knocked out in the striatum of mice we observe overt behavioral symptoms and hyperexcitability in striatal spiny projection neurons.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Rostral Pedunculopontine Nucleus Infusion of M4 Positive Allosteric Modulator VU0467154 Augments L-DOPA Effects in Hemiparkinsonian Rats

Standard treatment for Parkinsons disease (PD) is dopamine replacement therapy with L-DOPA. However, chronic treatment often results in abnormal involuntary movements called L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID). Prior evidence indicates that heightened striatal cholinergic tone may contribute to LID. Restoring cholinergic inhibition by targeting the inhibitory M4 muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (M4) reduces LID in preclinical models. Although intrinsic striatal sources of ACh have been considered for their role in LID, extrinsic sources of ACh such as the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) have not been well investigated for their role in LID. Therefore, the current study employed hemiparkinsonian Long-Evans rats with a PPN-targeted cannula ipsilateral to 6-OHDA lesion. Following chronic treatment with L-DOPA, we examined the effect of local unilateral PPN infusion of M4 PAM VU0467154 on LID, motor performance, and c-fos expression within the PPN. It was expected that PPN infusion of VU0467154 would reduce LID, reduce L-DOPAs motor benefit, and globally reduce c-fos expression in the PPN. Contrary to our expectations, PPN infusion of M4 PAM did not significantly affect LID severity. Furthermore, the group receiving M4 PAM showed slightly elevated motor improvement compared to L-DOPA, and decreased c-fos expression specifically in PPN cholinergic neurons. These results suggest that local PPN ACh dynamics differ from those of the striatum. Specifically, our results suggest that PPN cholinergic neurons may be a promising therapeutic target for augmenting L-DOPA-mediated motor benefit without increasing LID.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Gαolf Regulates Biochemical Signaling in Neurons Associated with Movement Control and Initiation

The heterotrimeric G-protein subunit, Golf, acts to transduce extracellular signals through G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and stimulates adenylyl cyclase mediated production of the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate. Numerous mutations in the GNAL gene, which encodes Golf, have been identified as causative for an adult-onset dystonia. These mutations disrupt GPCR signaling cascades in in vitro assays through several mechanisms, and this disrupted signaling is hypothesized to lead to dystonic motor symptoms in patients. However, the cells and circuits that mutations in GNAL corrupt are not well understood. Published patterns of Golf expression outside the context of the striatum are sparse, conflicting, often lack cell type specificity, and may be confounded by expression of the close GNAL homolog of GNAS. Here, we use RNAScope in-situ hybridization to quantitatively characterize Gnal mRNA expression in brain tissue from wildtype C57BL/6J adult mice. We observed widespread expression of Gnal puncta throughout the brain, suggesting Golf is expressed in more brain structures and neuron types than previously accounted for. We quantify transcripts at a single cell level, and use neuron type specific markers to further classify and understand patterns of GNAL expression. Our data suggests that brain regions classically associated with motor control, initiation, and regulation show the highest expression of GNAL, with Purkinje Cells of the cerebellum showing the highest expression of any neuron type examined. Subsequent conditional Gnal knockout in Purkinje cells led to markedly decreased intracellular cAMP levels and downstream cAMP-dependent enzyme activation. Our work provides a detailed characterization of Gnal expression throughout the brain and the biochemical consequences of loss of Golf signaling in vivo in neurons that highly express Gnal.

neuroscience↗