Researchers led by EPFL have found how lactate, a waste product of glucose metabolism can protect neurons from damage following acute trauma such as stroke or spinal cord injury.
Stroke or spinal cord injury can cause nerve cells to receive excessive stimulation, which ultimately damages and even kills them. This process is known as excitotoxicity, and it is one of the reasons why time following such trauma is critical, while it also implicated in progressive neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. Alzheimer’s disease. A team of scientists led by EPFL has now discovered that lactate, which is produced in the brain and even muscles after intense exercise, can be used to protect neurons against excitotoxicity. The study is published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
Following acute trauma such as a stroke or spinal cord injury, a certain type of receptors go into overdrive and overwhelm the target neuron with a barrage of electrical signals. This causes a build-up of calcium ions inside the neuron, which triggers toxic biochemical pathways that ultimately damage or kill it.
The receptors that cause this are called NMDA receptors, and interact with the neurotransmitter glutamate. NMDA receptors are a major target in research and medicine, as they are implicated in a number of disorders, including epilepsy, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and even Alzheimer’s.
A team of researchers led by Pierre Magistretti from EPFL and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, investigated the effects of glutamate on cultured neurons from the brains of mice. The scientists used a new, non-invasive imaging technique called Digital Holographic Microscopy that can visualize cells structure and dynamics with nanometer-level resolution.
Previous studies have suggested that, lactate could protect neurons against excitotoxicity. Lactate is produced in the brain and in muscles after intense exercise as a waste product of glucose metabolism. Nonetheless, how lactate protects neurons has eluded scientists until now.
The researchers tested the effects of glutamate on the mouse neurons with and without lactate. The results were revealing: glutamate killed 65% of the neurons, but when with lactate, that number dropped to 32%.
The researchers then aimed to determine how lactate protects neurons. By using different receptor blockers on the mouse neurons, they determined that lactate triggers the production of ATP, the cell’s energy molecule. In turn, the produced ATP binds and activates another type of receptor in the neuron, which turns on a complex cascade of defense mechanisms. As a result, the neuron can withstand the onslaught of signals from the NMDA receptor.
The breakthrough can advance our understanding of neuroprotection, which could lead to improved pharmacological ways to ameliorate the irreparable damage caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, and other trauma.
Funding: This work involved a collaboration of EPFL’s Brain Mind Institute with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV). It was funded by the FNRS and the NCCR Synapsy.
Source: EPFL
Image Credit: The image is credited to Pascal Jourdain (EPFL).
Original Research: Full open access research for “L-Lactate protects neurons against excitotoxicity: implication of an ATP-mediated signaling cascade” by P. Jourdain, I. Allaman, K. Rothenfusser, H. Fiumelli, P. Marquet and P. J. Magistretti in Scientific Reports. Published online February 19 2016 doi:10.1038/srep2125019
Abstract
L-Lactate protects neurons against excitotoxicity: implication of an ATP-mediated signaling cascade
Converging experimental data indicate a neuroprotective action of L-Lactate. Using Digital Holographic Microscopy, we observe that transient application of glutamate (100 μM; 2 min) elicits a NMDA-dependent death in 65% of mouse cortical neurons in culture.
In the presence of L-Lactate (or Pyruvate), the percentage of neuronal death decreases to 32%. UK5099, a blocker of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier, fully prevents L-Lactate-mediated neuroprotection. In addition, L-Lactate-induced neuroprotection is not only inhibited by probenicid and carbenoxolone, two blockers of ATP channel pannexins, but also abolished by apyrase, an enzyme degrading ATP, suggesting that ATP produced by the Lactate/Pyruvate pathway is released to act on purinergic receptors in an autocrine/paracrine manner.
Finally, pharmacological approaches support the involvement of the P2Y receptors associated to the PI3-kinase pathway, leading to activation of KATP channels. This set of results indicates that L-Lactate acts as a signalling molecule for neuroprotection against excitotoxicity through coordinated cellular pathways involving ATP production, release and activation of a P2Y/KATP cascade.
“L-Lactate protects neurons against excitotoxicity: implication of an ATP-mediated signaling cascade” by P. Jourdain, I. Allaman, K. Rothenfusser, H. Fiumelli, P. Marquet and P. J. Magistretti in Scientific Reports. Published online February 19 2016 doi:10.1038/srep2125019