■ Abstract Apoptosis is a genetically programmed, morphologically distinct form of cell death that can be triggered by a variety of physiological and pathological stimuli. Studies performed over the past 10 years have demonstrated that proteases play critical roles in initiation and execution of this process. The caspases, a family of cysteine-dependent aspartate-directed proteases, are prominent among the death proteases. Caspases are synthesized as relatively inactive zymogens that become activated by scaffold-mediated transactivation or by cleavage via upstream proteases in an intracellular cascade. Regulation of caspase activation and activity occurs at several different levels: ( a) Zymogen gene transcription is regulated; ( b) antiapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family and other cellular polypeptides block proximity-induced activation of certain procaspases; and ( c) certain cellular inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (cIAPs) can bind to and inhibit active caspases. Once activated, caspases cleave a variety of intracellular polypeptides, including major structural elements of the cytoplasm and nucleus, components of the DNA repair machinery, and a number of protein kinases. Collectively, these scissions disrupt survival pathways and disassemble important architectural components of the cell, contributing to the stereotypic morphological and biochemical changes that characterize apoptotic cell death.

Mammalian caspases: structure ,a ctivation ,s ubstrates, and functions during apoptosis

Time is a fundamental dimension of life. It is crucial for decisions about quantity, speed of movement and rate of return, as well as for motor control in walking, speech, playing or appreciating music, and participating in sports. Traditionally, the way in which time is perceived, represented and estimated has been explained using a pacemaker-accumulator model that is not only straightforward, but also surprisingly powerful in explaining behavioural and biological data. However, recent advances have challenged this traditional view. It is now proposed that the brain represents time in a distributed manner and tells the time by detecting the coincidental activation of different neural populations.

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What makes us tick? Functional and neural mechanisms of interval timing

The amphetamine derivative (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is a popular recreational drug among young people, particularly those involved in the dance culture. MDMA produces an acute, rapid enhancement in the release of both serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine from nerve endings in the brains of experimental animals. It produces increased locomotor activity and the serotonin behavioral syndrome in rats. Crucially, it produces dose-dependent hyperthermia that is potentially fatal in rodents, primates, and humans. Some recovery of 5-HT stores can be seen within 24 h of MDMA administration. However, cerebral 5-HT concentrations then decline due to specific neurotoxic damage to 5-HT nerve endings in the forebrain. This neurodegeneration, which has been demonstrated both biochemically and histologically, lasts for months in rats and years in primates. In general, other neurotransmitters appear unaffected. In contrast, MDMA produces a selective long-term loss of dopamine nerve endings in mice. Studies on the mechanisms involved in the neurotoxicity in both rats and mice implicate the formation of tissue-damaging free radicals. Increased free radical formation may result from the further breakdown of MDMA metabolic products. Evidence for the occurrence of MDMA-induced neurotoxic damage in human users remains equivocal, although some biochemical and functional data suggest that damage may occur in the brains of heavy users. There is also some evidence for long-term physiological and psychological changes occurring in human recreational users. However, such evidence is complicated by the lack of knowledge of doses ingested and the fact that many subjects studied are or have been poly-drug users.

The Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”)

A large body of human epidemiological data, as well as experimental studies, suggest that environmental factors operating early in life potently affect developing systems, permanently altering structure and function throughout life. This process with its persistent organizational effects has been called 'programming'. The brain is a key target for such effects. This review focuses on the effects of adverse early environments, notably exposure to stress or glucocorticoids, upon subsequent adult hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, behaviour and cognition. We discuss the effects observed, the proposed underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms and the consequences for pathophysiology. The data suggest that key targets for programming include glucocorticoid receptor gene expression and the corticotrophin-releasing hormone system. Increasing evidence for analogous processes in humans is also reviewed. Early life programming of neuroendocrine systems and behaviour by stress and exogenous or endogenous glucocorticoids appears to be a fundamental process underpinning common disorders. Approaches to minimize or reverse the consequences of such early life events may have therapeutic importance.

Prenatal Stress, Glucocorticoids and the Programming of the Brain

Cortico-striatal circuits and interval timing: coincidence detection of oscillatory processes.

Extracellular levels of dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and serotonin (5-HT) were assayed in the caudate of freely moving rats using microdialysis and high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC) to detect changes in their release. Dialysates were assayed at 20-minute intervals for four hours after an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of MDMA (10 mg/kg). In a separate study to determine MDMA effects on total caudate levels of the above neurochemicals, animals were injected IP with MDMA (10 mg/kg) and then sacrificed at 20, 60, 120 and 180 minutes after treatment. Brains were quickly removed, and caudate nuclei were dissected for neurochemical analysis using HPLC-EC. MDMA elicited an amphetamine-like increase in DA release, followed by an increase in DA content. DOPAC and HVA were both reduced in homogenate. 5-HT release was also increased, followed by a drop in caudate homogenate levels by three hours. DA extracellular content was 686% of control at 80 minutes; caudate homogenate levels were 122% at 120 minutes. 5-HT extracellular release was 123% at 20 minutes, then decreased thereafter. It is concluded that the acute effect of MDMA on caudate is at least as great on the DA as it is on the 5-HT system.

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Acute effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on monoamines in rat caudate.

Prenatal dexamethasone or stress but not ACTH or corticosterone alter sexual behavior in male rats

Extracellular levels of dopamine (DA) and metabolites as well as serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)] and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) were determined in the caudate putamen (CPU) of either 6- or 12-month-old female rats using microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED) before, during, and after four consecutive injections (given at 2-h intervals) of methamphetamine (METH). In 6-month-old rats administered 4 x 5 mg/kg METH at an environmental temperature (ET) of 23 degrees C, peak extracellular DA levels (between 50 and 150 rho g/10 microliters) were attained 30-45 min after each dose of METH while dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) decreased steadily after the first doses of METH until it reached a plateau at 50% of control (550-700 pg/10 microliters) levels. Increases in 5-HT levels during METH administrations paralleled DA increases while 5-HIAA decreases paralleled DOPAC decreases. The total CPU DA and 5-HT content of these rats was about 65% of control at 3 days post-METH. Reducing the ET to 4 degrees C during dosing decreased the peak and average DA levels attained during the 4 x 5 mg/kg METH administration to about 50% of that observed at a 23 degrees C ET. Increasing the dose to 4 x 10 mg/kg METH (4 degrees C ET) increased peak and average CPU DA levels to 200% that observed during 4 x 5 mg/kg METH at a 23 degrees C ET. However, no significant decreases in total CPU DA content of any rats dosed with METH at a 4 degrees C ET were observed 3 days post-METH. In 12-month-old rats dosed with 4 x 5 mg/kg METH (23 degrees C ET), the peak and average extracellular DA levels were only 30-60% that of 6-month-old rats. However, the CPU DA content of older rats was significantly decreased both 3 (30% control) and 14 (60% control) days post-METH. In summary, METH toxicity may not be predicted solely by the extracellular levels of DA attained during METH administration; age and ET also greatly influence METH neurotoxicity.

Effects of a cold environment or age on methamphetamine-induced dopamine release in the caudate putamen of female rats

Nitric oxide regulation of methamphetamine-induced dopamine release in caudate/putamen.

Various iron-oxide nanoparticles have been in use for a long time as therapeutic and imaging agents and for supplemental delivery in cases of iron-deficiency. While all of these products have a specified size range of ∼40 nm and above, efforts are underway to produce smaller particles, down to ∼1 nm. Here, we show that after a 24-h exposure of SHSY-5Y human neuroblastoma cells to 10 μg/ml of 10 and 30 nm ferric oxide nanoparticles (Fe-NPs), cellular dopamine content was depleted by 68 and 52 %, respectively. Increases in activated tyrosine kinase c-Abl, a molecular switch induced by oxidative stress, and neuronal α-synuclein expression, a protein marker associated with neuronal injury, were also observed (55 and 38 % percent increases, respectively). Inhibition of cell-proliferation, significant reductions in the number of active mitochondria, and a dose-dependent increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) were observed in neuronal cells. Additionally, using a rat in vitro blood–brain barrier (BBB) model, a dose-dependent increase in ROS accompanied by increased fluorescein efflux demonstrated compromised BBB integrity. To assess translational implications, in vivo Fe-NP-induced neurotoxicity was determined using in vivo MRI and post-mortem neurochemical and neuropathological correlates in adult male rats after exposure to 50 mg/kg of 10 nm Fe-NPs. Significant decrease in T
 2 values was observed. Dynamic observations suggested transfer and retention of Fe-NPs from brain vasculature into brain ventricles. A significant decrease in striatal dopamine and its metabolites was also observed, and neuropathological correlates provided additional evidence of significant nerve cell body and dopaminergic terminal damage as well as damage to neuronal vasculature after exposure to 10 nm Fe-NPs. These data demonstrate a neurotoxic potential of very small size iron nanoparticles and suggest that use of these ferric oxide nanoparticles may result in neurotoxicity, thereby limiting their clinical application.

Bobby Gough

Papers

Acute effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on monoamines in rat caudate.

Prenatal dexamethasone or stress but not ACTH or corticosterone alter sexual behavior in male rats

Effects of a cold environment or age on methamphetamine-induced dopamine release in the caudate putamen of female rats

Nitric oxide regulation of methamphetamine-induced dopamine release in caudate/putamen.

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Induce Dopaminergic Damage: In vitro Pathways and In Vivo Imaging Reveals Mechanism of Neuronal Damage