|
Figure 1. Both local and distant expression of HCN2 channels rescue nicotine-induced non-CNS organ defects in Xenopus embryos. (A) Schematic of embryonic bioelectric pattern, its disruption, and restoration. Our previous studies20-23 show membrane voltage difference between regions of ectoderm (neural plate and surrounding regions) are crucial for proper eye and brain morphology. Embryonic exposure to chemical (nicotine and ethanol) and genetic/biochemical (Notch disruption) erases this crucial membrane voltage difference leading eye and brain morphology defects. Predictive computational modelling suggested HCN2 as most promising channel whose activation could bring the bioelectric pattern back to normal. HCN2 channel expression either locally or at distance or exposure to HCN2 opening drugs in nicotine-exposed embryos is sufficient to restore the membrane voltage difference and rescue eye and brain morphology defects. (BâF) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or nicotine-treated (stage 10â35) tadpoles with or without microinjection with Hcn2-WT mRNA either in both blastomeres at two-cell stage or dorsal or ventral two blastomeres at four-cell stage as indicated. Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed lines indicate intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (G) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS morphology defects for each experimental group are: controls â 5%, nicotine â 50%, nicotineâ+âHCN2-WT 2/2 â 11%, nicotineâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 17% and nicotineâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 14%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ***pâ<â0.001 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each data point is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (H,I) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. β-galactosidase expression assessed using X-Gal (blue) in bleached tadpoles co-injected with Hcn2-WT and β-galactosidase mRNA. In dorsal blastomere injections, β-galactosidase was observed mainly in the nostrils, eye, brain and spinal cord (cyan arrowheads). In ventral blastomere injections, β-galactosidase was absent from eye, brain and spinal cord (magenta arrowheads) and was mainly present in the brachial arches, gut, heart and muscles (cyan arrowheads).
|
|
Figure 2. Non-local exposure to lamotrigine and gabapentin rescues nicotine-induced non-CNS organ defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâD) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or nicotine-treated (stage 10â35) tadpoles with or without treatment with lamotrigine (stage 10â35) or gabapentin (stage 10â35). Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed line indicates intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (E) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under the indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS organ defects for each experimental group are: controls â 5%, nicotine â 48%, nicotineâ+âlamotrigine (stage 10â35) â 15%, nicotineâ+âgabapentin (stage 10â35) â 16%, nicotineâ+âlamotrigine (stage 25â35) â 12% and nicotineâ+âgabapentin (stage 25â35) â 13%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 3. Both local and distant expression of HCN2 channels rescue ethanol-induced eye and brain morphology defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâE) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or ethanol-treated (stage 9â40) tadpoles with or without microinjection with Hcn2-WT mRNA either in both blastomeres at two-cell stage or dorsal or ventral two blastomeres at four-cell stage as indicated. Blue arrowheads indicate intact nostrils, orange brackets indicate intact forebrain (FB), yellow brackets indicate intact midbrain (MB), cyan brackets indicate intact hindbrain (HB), intact eyes (e) and magenta arrowheads indicate severe eye and brain morphology defects. (F) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole eye and brain morphology defects under indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with eye and brain defects for each experimental group are: controls â 6%, ethanol â 56%, ethanolâ+âHCN2-WT 2/2 â 24%, ethanolâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 24% and ethanolâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 70%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01, *pâ<â0.05 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (G) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (eye and brain) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ethanol â 181 and ethanolâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 239. *pâ<â0.05 (unpaired t-test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment) [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 4. Non-local exposure to lamotrigine and gabapentin rescues ethanol-induced eye and brain morphology defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâD) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or ethanol-treated (stage 9â40) tadpoles with or without treatment with lamotrigine (stage 9â40) or gabapentin (stage 9â40). Blue arrowheads indicate intact nostrils, orange brackets indicate intact forebrain (FB), yellow brackets indicate intact midbrain (MB), cyan brackets indicate intact hindbrain (HB) and magenta arrowheads indicate severe eye and brain morphology defects. (E) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole eye and brain morphology defects under the indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with eye and brain defects for each experimental group are: controls â 6%, ethanol (state 9â40) â 57%, ethanolâ+âlamotrigine (stage 9â40) â 31%, ethanolâ+âgabapentin (stage 9â40) â 30%, ethanolâ+âlamotrigine (stage 23â40) â 21% and ethanolâ+âgabapentin (stage 23â40) â 26%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****pâ<â0.0001, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01, *pâ<â0.05 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 5. Only distant expression of HCN2 channels rescue ethanol-induced non-CNS organ defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâE) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or ethanol-treated (stage 9â40) tadpoles with or without microinjection with Hcn2-WT mRNA either in both blastomeres at two-cell stage or dorsal or ventral two blastomeres at four-cell stage as indicated. Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed lines indicate intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (F) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS morphology defects for each experimental group are: controls â 6%, ethanol â 67%, ethanolâ+âHCN2-WT 2/2 â 38%, ethanolâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 31% and ethanolâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 66%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01, *pâ<â0.05 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment. (G) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (heart and gut) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ethanol â 152 and ethanolâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 246. **pâ<â0.01 (unpaired t-test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment) [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 6. Non-local exposure to lamotrigine and gabapentin rescues ethanol-induced non-CNS organ defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâD) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or ethanol-treated (stage 9â40) tadpoles with or without treatment with lamotrigine (stage 9â40) or gabapentin (stage 9â40). Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed line indicates intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (E) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under the indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS organ defects for each experimental group are: controls â 6%, ethanol â 65%, ethanolâ+âlamotrigine (stage 9â40) â 29%, ethanolâ+âgabapentin (stage 9â40) â 30%, ethanolâ+âlamotrigine (stage 23â40) â 25% and ethanolâ+âgabapentin (stage 23â40) â 22%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****p <â0.0001, ***p <â0.001, **p <â0.01, *p <â0.05 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with N >â50 embryos). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 7. Only overall uniform expression of HCN2 channels rescue overactive Notch (ICD)-induced eye and brain morphology defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâE) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or overactive Notch (ICD) mRNA microinjected (both blastomeres at two-cell stage) tadpoles with or without microinjection with Hcn2-WT mRNA either in both blastomeres at two-cell stage or dorsal or ventral two blastomeres at four-cell stage as indicated. Blue arrowheads indicate intact nostrils, orange brackets indicate intact forebrain (FB), yellow brackets indicate intact midbrain (MB), cyan brackets indicate intact hindbrain (HB), intact eyes (e) and magenta arrowheads indicate severe eye and/or brain morphology defects. (F) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole eye and brain morphology defects under indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with eye and brain defects for each experimental group are: controls â 3%, ICD â 74%, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/2 â 38%, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 85% and ICDâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 76%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****pâ<â0.0001, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (G) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (eye and brain) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ICD â 133, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 228 and ICDâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 220. *pâ<â0.05 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 8. Non-local exposure to lamotrigine and gabapentin fails to rescue overactive Notch (ICD)-induced eye and brain morphology defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâD) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or overactive Notch (ICD) mRNA microinjected (dorsal two blastomeres at four-cell stage) tadpoles with or without treatment with lamotrigine (stage 11â40) or gabapentin (stage 11â40). Blue arrowheads indicate intact nostrils, orange brackets indicate intact forebrain (FB), yellow brackets indicate intact midbrain (MB), cyan brackets indicate intact hindbrain (HB) and magenta arrowheads indicate severe eye and brain morphology defects. (E) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole eye and brain morphology defects under the indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with eye and brain defects for each experimental group are: controls â 7%, ICD â 70%, ICDâ+âlamotrigine (stage 11â40) â 74%, ICDâ+âgabapentin (stage 11â40) â 72%, ICDâ+âlamotrigine (stage 22â40) â 71% and ICDâ+âgabapentin (stage 22â40) â 75%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****pâ<â0.0001 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (F) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (eye and brain) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ICD â 142, ICDâ+âlamotrigine â 245 and ICDâ+âgabapentin â 252. **pâ<â0.01 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 9. Only overall uniform expression of HCN2 channels rescue overactive Notch (ICD)-induced non-CNS organ defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâE) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or overactive Notch (ICD) mRNA microinjected (both blastomeres at two-cell stage) tadpoles with or without microinjection with Hcn2-WT mRNA either in both blastomeres at two-cell stage or dorsal or ventral two blastomeres at four-cell stage as indicated. Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed lines indicate intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (F) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS morphology defects for each experimental group are: controls â 6%, ICD â 75%, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/2â34%, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 83% and ICDâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 70%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****pâ<â0.0001, ***pâ<â0.001, **pâ<â0.01 and n.s.-non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (G) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (heart and gut) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ICD â 119, ICDâ+âHCN2-WT 2/4 dorsal â 215 and ICDâ+âHCN2 2/4 ventral â 239. ***pâ<â0.001 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 10. Non-local exposure to lamotrigine and gabapentin fails to rescue overactive Notch (ICD)-induced non-CNS defects in Xenopus embryos. (AâD) Representative images of stage 45 tadpoles. Control (untreated and uninjected) or overactive Notch (ICD) mRNA microinjected (dorsal two blastomeres at four-cell stage) tadpoles with or without treatment with lamotrigine (stage 11â40) or gabapentin (stage 11â40). Cyan arrow indicates intact rightward gut coils, orange dashed line indicates intact rightward coiling heart and magenta arrowheads indicate severe morphology defects in gut and heart. (E) Quantification of stage 45 tadpole non-CNS organ morphology defects under the indicated conditions. Percentage of tadpoles with non-CNS organ defects for each experimental group are: controls â 7%, ICD â 53%, ICDâ+âlamotrigine (stage 11â40) â 55%, ICDâ+âgabapentin (stage 11â40) â 56%, ICDâ+âlamotrigine (stage 22â40) â 58% and ICDâ+âgabapentin (stage 22â40) â 57%. Data are meanâ+âSD, ****pâ<â0.0001 and n.s., non-significant (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test). Each datapoint is an independent experiment with Nâ>â50 embryos. (F) Comparison of severity indices (SI), a measure of severity of phenotypes (heart and gut) within a population, for indicated conditions. Mean SI are: ICD â 161, ICDâ+âlamotrigine â 256 and ICDâ+âgabapentin â 247. **pâ<â0.01 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test for n = 3 independent experiments with Nâ>â50 embryos per treatment group per experiment). [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
|
|
Figure 11. Schematic model of HCN2 repair of organ defects. (A) Stage 3 four-cell Xenopus embryo with dorsal two blastomeres being main precursors of eye and brain organogenesis and ventral two blastomeres as main precursors of non-neural/CNS organogenesis92, 143 (B) Our new data along with those of our previous studies20, 21, 23, 69 show that: nicotine-induced eye and brain or non-CNS (heart and gut) morphology defects are completely repaired by HCN2 channel expression in either overall, dorsal two or ventral two blastomeres suggesting both local and long-range mode of action. Ethanol-induced eye and brain or non-CNS (heart and gut) morphology defects are completely repaired by HCN2 channel expression in either overall or dorsal two blastomeres suggesting local action for eye and brain repair and long-range action for heart and gut repair. Notch ICD â induced eye and brain or non-CNS (heart and gut) morphology defects are completely repaired by HCN2 channel expression in overall embryo suggesting both local and long-range action together might be necessary.
|