Heterogeneity in pericyte inflammatory responses across age and species highlight the importance of human cell models | Molecular Brain

ECM remodeling occurs in the meninges during aging and following CNS trauma. In our latest work, led by @KateHitpass and @t_stevenson95, we show how this ECM remodeling contributes to the meningeal lymphatic drainage deficits seen in these conditions.

I am excited to share our latest research on the arachnoid barrier, a crucial yet poorly understood structure that partitions the CNS and the dura, out today @Nature. We discovered that gaps in this barrier allow communication between the CNS and the dura.

Another important role for the meningeal lymphatic system. Check out our preview of the recent work from Jian-Fu Chen in todays issue of @CellStemCell on lymphatics in craniosynostosis. https://t.co/06KXlbuhCq @t_stevenson95 @KateHitpass

I presented an IMAX movie called Fungi: Web of Life, narrated by Björk who speaks the story with inimitable magic and sensitivity. It features astonishing fungal time lapse photography from some of the best fungal photographers working today. Full trailer: https://t.co/NfHLmEB0dF

Will platelet-factor 4 keep our brain young? https://t.co/3yLAFixn2d @JSRustenhoven @luca_vinnell @AucklandUni @ImmunityCP

Our latest publication: Wrapping up the role of pericytes in Parkinson’s disease. Here we highlight the importance and versatility of this cell type by discussing the lesser-known endocytic and phagocytic capabilities of pericytes in Parkinson's disease. https://t.co/lCVmJjfY90

It's official, 2022 was Aotearoa New Zealand’s warmest year on record, again 🤒 Mother Nature is running a fever & it's not getting better. https://t.co/FRYGHPBtyX 🧵 on the 22 things you should know about 2022, through the eyes of @niwa_nz's climate scientists

Happy to share my latest publication. Human pericytes degrade diverse α-synuclein aggregates. #PLOSONE #Parkinsons #synuclein thanks to everyone involved from the https://t.co/u47DKAvm2O and beyond @HighetBlake @t_stevenson95

Excited to share our paper on the overexpression of OATPs in human #glioblastoma tissue. Super proud of this work, a wee lockdown project, lots of learning and I couldn’t have done it without our incredible co-authors, especially @zoewoolf1 and @molly_swanson 🙌 1/6

It’s been an exciting week here, very pleased to also share our paper elucidating the cellular uptake mechanisms of heptamethine cyanine dye analogues for their use as an anticancer drug-carrier molecule for the treatment of glioblastoma https://t.co/Muv5P6sTrJ 1/4

Lastly, a special thanks to all the co-authors involved! @VDieriks @hcmurray6 @smyth_leon @zoewoolf1 @JSRustenhoven @Rebecca84486196

3. Although α-synuclein did not induce inflammation or any cytotoxic effects alone, in the presence of another stressor—in this case the ubiquitin proteasome inhibitor MG132—significant cell death occurs through the increase of ROS.

Degradation of α-synuclein in these cells appears to be regulated through the autophagy lysosomal pathway. This ties in well with our previous findings demonstrating that pericytes contain α-synuclein in the human brain. https://t.co/DxxyCnQ14Z

2. Pericytes are an important cell type and are directly involved in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis. We show that primary human brain pericytes can efficiently take up and subsequently degrade α-synuclein in vitro.

1. We demonstrate that the addition of two structurally different fibrillar α-synuclein polymorphs does not induce an inflammatory response in primary human brain pericytes or microglia.

Excited to share our latest paper - Pericytes take up and degrade α-synuclein but succumb to apoptosis under cellular stress.

🚨New paper! Neuropathology in chronic traumatic encephalopathy: a systematic review of comparative post-mortem histology literature https://t.co/S6Ut6AMTbS It's a hefty read, so we summarised the data in an interactive @tableaupublic visualisation https://t.co/o336Mzy4Ea

For centuries we've had anatomical maps of how the body's organs are connected, but what would a diagram of the immune system’s connections look like? In @Nature we report our initiative to map the "interactome" that links human immune cells together (1/14) https://t.co/sj4BKiITGd

https://t.co/fjwvq4xdOm