a-murine-pancreatic-islet-cell-based-screening-for-diabetogenic

A Murine Pancreatic Islet Cell-based Screening for Diabetogenic Environmental Chemicals

Exposure to certain environmental chemicals in human and animals has been found to cause cellular damage of the pancreatic &#946; cells which will lead to ...

Texas A&M University

Biogenic amines in the gastrointestinal tract are important metabolites of dietary protein and amino acids with the help of gut digestive enzymes and microbes, which play a crucial role in the regulation of intestinal functions, including digestion, absorption, and local immunity. However, high concentrations of biogenic amines can induce adverse reactions and are harmful to animal's health. Therefore, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of how different biogenic amines interact with a body's intestinal function signaling pathways and to monitor the content of biogenic amines in the gastrointestinal tract. And in turn, the proper concentration of dietary protein and balanced amino acids for humans and livestock could be given. Though numerous methods have been developed and improved for the detection of biogenic amines in foods or wines much less attention has been paid directly to the determination of amine levels in the gastrointestinal tract. In this article, we mainly focus on the interaction of amines with the intestinal function signaling pathway and the broad impacts on animal physiology, and our modified method to accurately and quickly detect the biogenic amines in the digesta of an animal intestine.

Roles of Biogenic Amines in Intestinal Signaling.

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) plays an important role in protecting cells from mutagenic DNA damages induced by endogenous and exogenous toxicants. This protective function is often attributed to the PXR-regulated metabolic detoxification. Here we report a novel potential mechanism that PXR reduces benzo-[α]-pyrene(BaP)-induced DNA damage through inhibiting the transcriptional activity of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) which plays a pivotal role in the bioactivation of BaP. We have utilized three well-characterized cell lines, i.e. Hepa1c1c7, AhR +/+; Bpr lacks AhR obligatory partner ARNT; Tao, lacks AhR, to analyze pivotal role of AhR/ARNT complex in mediating the BaP-induced DNA damages using comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis). We found that PXR activation could significantly inhibit BaP-induced DNA damage in the HepG2 cells as well as mouse hepatocytes. Using PXR-null and wild type mouse hepatocytes we showed that PXR activation by pregnenolone 16α-carbonitrile (PCN) significantly inhibited BaP-induced DNA damage and this protective effect was abolished in PXR-null hepatocytes. Mechanistically, PXR activation inhibited expression of AhR-target genes for CYP1A1, CYP1B1 and CYP1A2 that are required for BaP biotransformation in cultured liver cells, or in the livers of C57BL/6J mice. Using an AhR-responsive reporter assay as well as chromatin immunoprecipitation assay we found that PXR activation transcriptionally represses AhR-regulated gene expression. Furthermore, we found that PXR directly bound AhR at its DNA-binding domain, and this association may play a role in preventing of the AhR from binding to its target genes as shown in the ChIP assay. Taken together, our study has revealed a novel mechanism by which PXR protects liver cells from BaP-induced DNA damage through inhibiting the BaP biotransformation.

Pregnane X receptor regulates the AhR/Cyp1A1 pathway and protects liver cells from benzo-[α]-pyrene-induced DNA damage.

The metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is a long noncoding RNA and its overexpression is associated with the development of many types of malignancy. MALAT1 null mice show no overt phenotype. However, in transcriptome analysis of MALAT1 null mice we found significant upregulation of nuclear factor-erythroid 2 p45-related factor 2 (Nrf2) regulated antioxidant genes including Nqo1 and Cat with significant reduction in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and greatly reduced ROS-generated protein carbonylation in hepatocyte and islets. We performed lncRNA pulldown assay using biotinylated antisense oligonucleotides against MALAT1 and found MALAT1 interacted with Nrf2, suggesting Nrf2 is transcriptionally regulated by MALAT1. Exposure to excessive ROS has been shown to cause insulin resistance through activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) which leads to inhibition of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and insulin-induced phosphorylation of serine/threonine kinase Akt. We found MALAT1 ablation suppressed JNK activity with concomitant insulin-induced activation of IRS-1 and phosphorylation of Akt suggesting MALAT1 regulated insulin responses. MALAT1 null mice exhibited sensitized insulin-signaling response to fast-refeeding and glucose/insulin challenges and significantly increased insulin secretion in response to glucose challenge in isolated MALAT1 null islets, suggesting an increased insulin sensitivity. In summary, we demonstrate that MALAT1 plays an important role in regulating insulin sensitivity and has the potential as a therapeutic target for the treatment of diabetes as well as other diseases caused by excessive exposure to ROS.

Jingshu Chen

Texas A&M University

A Murine Pancreatic Islet Cell-based Screening for Diabetogenic Environmental Chemicals