Project description:Akap1 KO and Wt mice were exposed to normoxia or hyperoxia for 48h. Total RNA was extracted from lungs of Wt Normoxia (n=3), Wt hyperoxia (n=3), Akap1 KO (n=3) and Akap1 hyperoxia (n=3) mice. RNA-sequencing was carried out followed by differential expression of genes in the following groups. Wt Normoxia vs Wt Hyperoxia, Akap1 KO Normoxia versus Akap1 KO Hyperoxia, Wt Normoxia versus Akap1 KO Normoxia and Wt Hperoxia versus Akap1 Hyperoxia.
Project description:Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), the most common complication of extreme preterm birth, can be caused by oxygen-related lung injury and is characterized by impaired alveolar and vascular development. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have lung protective effects. Conversely, BPD is associated with increased MSCs in tracheal aspirates. Objective: To determine whether endogenous lung (L-)MSCs are perturbed in a well-established oxygen-induced rat model mimicking BPD features. Methods: Rat pups were exposed to room air or 95% oxygen from birth to postnatal day 10. On day 12, CD146+ L-MSCs were isolated and characterized according to the International Society for Cellular Therapy criteria. Epithelial and vascular repair potential were tested by scratch assay and endothelial network formation respectively, immune function by mixed lymphocyte reaction assay. Microarray analysis was performed using the Affymetrix GeneChip and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) software. Results: CD146+ L-MSCs isolated from rat pups exposed to hyperoxia had decreased CD73 expression and inhibited lung endothelial network formation. CD146+ L-MSCs indiscriminately promoted epithelial wound healing and limited T-cell proliferation. Expression of potent anti-angiogenic genes of the axonal guidance cue and CDC42 pathways was increased after in vivo hyperoxia, whereas genes of the anti-inflammatory JAK/STAT and lung/vascular growth promoting Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) pathways were decreased. Conclusions: In vivo hyperoxia exposure alters the pro-angiogenic effects and FGF expression of L-MSCs. Additionally, decreased CD73 and JAK/STAT expression suggest decreased immune function. L-MSC function may be perturbed and contribute to BPD pathogenesis. These findings may lead to improvements in manufacturing exogenous MSCs with superior repair capabilities.
Project description:We evaluated the transcriptional changes in the aorta and kidney of 1 year old rats that were exposed to hyperoxia or normoxia in the neonatal period.
Project description:Background: Metabolic dysregulation has been implicated in bronchopulmonary dysplasia development. Taurine is an essential amino acid for neonates and is critically involved in glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Neonatal tissue obtains taurine mainly through the taurine transporter. The biological role of taurine in neonatal lung development has never been explored. As glucose metabolism mechanistically modulates angiogenesis and angiogenesis is the central player for neonatal lung development, we hypothesize that taurine depletion contributes to bronchopulmonary dysplasia development. Results: Although most genes and proteins for oxidative phosphorylation were enriched in hyperoxia pup lungs, the complex-1 activity decreased. The decrease in taurine-dependent complex-1 core subunits, ND5 and ND6, in hyperoxia lungs reasonably explained the discrepancy. Metabolomics analysis demonstrated decreased lung taurine with increased blood taurine of hyperoxia pups, compatible with the decreased taurine transporter expression. Decreased glycosylation and increased degradation explained the decreased taurine transporter expression. The results of the complementary study using tunicamycin and tauroursodeoxycholic acid studies supported that endoplasmic reticulum stress contributes to decreased taurine transporter expression in hyperoxia lungs. The effect of taurine treatment on reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress, increasing ND5 and ND6 expression, angiogenesis, and, most importantly, the alveolar formation is beneficial to hyperoxia rat pups. Conclusion: Hyperoxia exposure causes endoplasmic reticulum stress, increases taurine transporter degradation, and leads to taurine depletion in the neonatal lungs with subsequent metabolic dysregulation, resulting in poor alveolar formation of the neonatal lungs. We provide evidence of the never-being-reported protective role of taurine in neonatal lung development. The fact that taurine attenuates the severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia by reducing hyperoxia-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial dysfunction indicates its therapeutic potential for treating bronchopulmonary dysplasia.
Project description:Knee osteoarthritis (KOA), as a degenerative multifactorial disease, affects the quality of life and mental health of patients, and also brings a huge socioeconomic burden. Treating synovitis have shown promise as anti-inflammatory therapeutics in mitigating OA symptoms and disease progression. Here, by analysing synovial single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from KOA, we found that synovial fibroblasts (FLS) in OA synovium showed a distinct pro-inflammatory phenotype. We collected synovial tissue from patients with clinical OA as well as from healthy donors, and histological examination was consistent with findings in scRNA-seq. Inspired by recent cross-tissue fibroblast lineage studies, we identified by sequencing that healthy FLS in synovial tissues share transcriptome-level similarities with dermal fibroblasts (DFb). Subsequently, we revealed the local as well as systemic distribution of intra-articular injected DFbs by constructing/extracting two types of rat fibroblasts (luciferase DFbs as well as GFP DFbs). The results demonstrate that DFbs can be locally retained in the synovium for up to three weeks following targeted engrafting on it. And intra-articular injection does not result in DFbs migration to vital organs or the occurrence of histological changes in these organs. A rat model of KOA was constructed by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) in order to study the therapeutic effect of DFbs on KOA. After injection, the rats showed improvement in painful gait. In addition, histological as well as imaging results showed reduced synovitis and improvement in articular cartilage. Finally we verified the protective effect of DFbs on cytokine-stimulated chondrocytes in a co-culture system.
Project description:We performed miRNA array analysis from 4 groups (neonatal lung control, neonatal lung after hyperoxia, adult lung control, adult lung after hyperoxia). We used pools of every 100ng of total RNA of three samples for each groups.