98%
921
2 minutes
20
Background: Lysinuric protein intolerance (LPI) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by an inherited defect in cationic amino acid transport caused by pathogenic variants in the SLC7A7 gene. While LPI causes systemic complications, the underlying cellular mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigated the cellular characteristics of LPI, focusing on intracellular metabolite profiles and astrocyte response to hyperammonemia.
Objectives: To examine intracellular metabolite changes in LPI patients and to evaluate the response of patient-derived astrocytes to ammonia exposure.
Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from three LPI patients and three healthy controls were analyzed for intracellular metabolite profiles using capillary electrophoresis-fourier transform mass spectrometry. Induced pluripotent stem cells were generated from a patient's PBMCs and differentiated into astrocytes. We evaluated LPI-astrocytes and their response to ammonia treatment by RNA sequencing, gene expression profiling, and cell viability assays.
Results: Metabolite analysis revealed significant intracellular metabolite imbalances in LPI patients, with increases of 21 metabolites including 11 amino acids. LPI-astrocytes exhibited distinct cellular characteristics regarding altered gene expression and enhanced cell cycle progression. When exposed to ammonia, the astrocytes demonstrated markedly lower cell viability and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production compared to control astrocytes. N-acetylcysteine supplementation significantly ameliorated ammonia-induced cytotoxicity.
Conclusions: SLC7A7 dysfunction leads to intracellular metabolite disturbances and an increase in vulnerability to ammonia toxicity through ROS production of astrocyte, suggesting hyperammonemia and amino acid deficiencies as potential therapeutic targets in LPI patient care.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymgme.2025.109134 | DOI Listing |
Plant J
September 2025
Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK.
Plastoglobuli (PG) are plant lipoprotein compartments, present in plastid organelles. They are involved in the formation and/or storage of lipophilic metabolites. FIBRILLINs (FBNs) are one of the main PG-associated proteins and are particularly abundant in carotenoid-enriched chromoplasts found in ripe fruits and flowers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJCI Insight
September 2025
Alice and Y. T. Chen Center for Genetics and Genomics, Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics.
Methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) is a severe metabolic disorder affecting multiple organs because of a distal block in branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism. Standard of care is limited to protein restriction and supportive care during metabolic decompensation. Severe cases require liver/kidney transplantation, and there is a clear need for better therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
September 2025
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China.
Delivering therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) remains a major challenge in ischemic stroke therapy. Ischemic stroke induces upregulation of various inflammatory membrane receptors on brain endothelial cells, offering potential entry points for receptor-mediated transcytosis. This study proposes a universal targeting strategy by employing inflammatory pathway antagonists as targeting ligands, which broadens the spectrum of available ligands beyond traditional receptor-binding molecules.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Integr Neurosci
August 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, 150001 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China.
Background And Purpose: Ciprofol, a novel intravenous anesthetic, has been shown to exert protective effects against ischemic stroke, a leading cause of death and disability; however, its molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of ciprofol using metabolomics.
Methods: This study used a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model to simulate cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI).
Front Syst Biol
August 2025
Systems Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Mathematical models for cellular systems have become more and more important for understanding the complex interplay between metabolism, signalling, and gene expression.In this manuscript, starting from the well-known flux balance analysis, tools and methods are summarised and illustrated by various examples that describe the way to models with kinetics for individual reactions steps that are finally self-contained. While flux analysis requires known (measured) input fluxes, self-contained (or self-sustained) models only get information on concentrations of environmental components.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF