Role of astrocyte-based cholinergic neuromodulation in cognition and in the treatment of cognitive disorders

基于星形胶质细胞的胆碱能神经调节在认知和认知障碍治疗中的作用

• 批准号: 10589881
• 负责人: Thomas Papouin
• 金额: $ 39.38万
• 依托单位: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2026-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10589881
• 关键词: Ablation; Adult; Agonist; Astrocytes; Behavior; Behavioral; Benchmarking; Binding; Biology; Brain; Brain Diseases; Cells; Characteristics; Clinical; Clinical Treatment; Clinical Trials; Code; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive; Cognitive deficits; Coupling; Cues; Data; Dose; Electron Microscopy; Environment; FDA approved; Failure; Fluorescence; Genetic; Human; Impaired cognition; Intervention; Knockout Mice; Ligands; Light; Link; MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery; Maps; Measures; Mediating; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Modality; Molecular; Morphology; Mus; National Institute of Mental Health; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neuroglia; Neurons; Neurophysiology - biologic function; Nootropic Agents; Output; Pathway interactions; Patients; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacologic Substance; Phase III Clinical Trials; Pilot Projects; Positioning Attribute; Process; Quantum Dots; Receptor Signaling; Research; Role; Route; Schizophrenia; Seminal; Serine; Shapes; Signal Transduction; Surface; Synapses; Testing; Therapeutic; Work; alpha-bungarotoxin receptor; behavioral outcome; cell type; cholinergic; cognitive disability; cognitive enhancement; cognitive function; drinking water; drug development; excitatory neuron; imaging study; in vivo; inhibitory neuron; nanoscale; nervous system disorder; neural circuit; neuroregulation; particle; programs; receptor; response; sobriety; stimulant use; success; therapeutic evaluation

ABSTRACT Neurons are viewed as the cellular correlate of cognition and only target of clinical therapeutics, in part because manipulating neurons rapidly and directly alters behavior. Yet, the human brain is also made of glial cells, which morphological and genetic complexification is a striking feature of the human brain. Astrocytes, in particular, are now known to orchestrate many neural functions, crystalizing the possibility of a direct astrocyte contribution to cognitive functions and mental health. However, a lack of understanding of the rules that govern astrocytes activity and their involvement in neural circuits has limited our ability to test this idea. Collective work recently showed that astrocytes transduce neuromodulatory information onto synaptic circuits. Specifically, we found that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChRs) on astrocytes regulate the release of the astrocyte transmitter D-serine onto synapses. Neuromodulation, in particular cholinergic signaling, permits behavioral adaptations to changes in the environment, and its alteration is linked to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Coincidently, the α7nAChR has focalized major drug development efforts in the past decade to restore the cognitive symptoms of patients with schizophrenia. Here, we will take advantage of this new astrocyte-based α7nAChR pathway to test the role of astrocytes in cognitive functions and pro-cognitive interventions, and elucidate the mechanisms through which neuromodulation is sensed and transduced by astrocytes at the cellular and molecular levels. In doing so, we will test a set of general principles which we hypothesize govern input output fidelity in astrocytes (positional coupling). In Aim 1, we will test the hypothesis that α7nAChRs are located in the immediate vicinity of D-serine pools, directly linking Ca2+ influx through α7nAChR channel activity to the Ca2+-dependent D-serine release machinery. We will conduct fluorescence Ca2+ imaging studies to understand the spatial, temporal and molecular rules of α7nAChR-mediated Ca2+ signals and their relation to D-serine release. We will then map the physical association of α7nAChR and D-serine pools in perisynaptic astrocytic processes, using electron microscopy. In addition, we will conduct single-particle tracking studies to understand how the dynamic distribution of α7nAChR at the surface of astrocytes, with respect to D-serine pools, is influenced by the binding of endogenous and exogenous ligands. In Aim 2, we will generate cell-specific knockout mouse lines to selectively ablate α7nAChR from astrocytes, excitatory neurons or inhibitory neurons in the brain, and canvas the contribution of each cell-types to characteristic behaviors supported by α7nAChRs. We recently showed that an α7nAChR partial agonist tested in Phase-III clinical trials for the treatment of cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia, elevates D-serine levels in the mouse brain. Based on our observations that inactivating astrocyte-based α7nAChR signaling leads to specific alterations in D-serine levels and cognitive behavior, we will then test the hypothesis that astrocytes, but not neurons, enable the behavioral efficacy of cognitive enhancers tested in clinical trials, and that D-serine signaling is the circuit actuator of these effects.

摘要