Biophysical models reveal the relative importance of transporter proteins and impermeant anions in chloride homeostasis
- University of Cape Town, South Africa
- University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- University of Iowa, United States
Abstract
Fast synaptic inhibition in the nervous system depends on the transmembrane flux of Cl- ions based on the neuronal Cl- driving force. Established theories regarding the determinants of Cl- driving force have recently been questioned. Here we present biophysical models of Cl- homeostasis using the pump-leak model. Using numerical and novel analytic solutions, we demonstrate that the Na+/K+-ATPase, ion conductances, impermeant anions, electrodiffusion, water fluxes and cation-chloride cotransporters (CCCs) play roles in setting the Cl- driving force. Our models, together with experimental validation, show that while impermeant anions can contribute to setting [Cl-]i in neurons, they have a negligible effect on the driving force for Cl- locally and cell-wide. In contrast, we demonstrate that CCCs are well-suited for modulating Cl- driving force and hence inhibitory signalling in neurons. Our findings reconcile recent experimental findings and provide a framework for understanding the interplay of different chloride regulatory processes in neurons.
Data availability
Code data is available on GitHub. Experimental data in the form of data spreadsheets has been included, and full experimental data is available on Dryad.
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Data from: Biophysical models reveal the relative importance of transporter proteins and impermeant anions in chloride homeostasisAvailable at Dryad Digital Repository under a CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
Article and author information
Author details
Kira Michaela Düsterwald
Christopher Brian Currin
Richard Joseph Burman
Joseph Valentino Raimondo
Funding
Mandela Rhodes Foundation
- Kira Michaela Düsterwald
- Richard Joseph Burman
DAAD-NRF
- Christopher Brian Currin
Newton Fund
- Joseph Valentino Raimondo
Blue Brain Project
- Joseph Valentino Raimondo
H2020 European Research Council (ERC Grant Agreement 617670)
- Colin J Akerman
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Kenton Jon Swartz, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, United States
Ethics
Animal experimentation: No experiments were performed on animals prior to humane killing using cervical dislocation at P7, every effort was made to minimise stress prior to killing. The use of rats in the UK (furosemide experiment) were in accordance with regulations from the United Kingdom Home Office Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act. Use of mice (electroporation experiment) at the University of Cape Town was in accordance with South African national guidelines (South African National Standard: The care and use of animals for scientific purposes, 2008) and was approved by the University of Cape Town Animal Ethics Committee protocol no 014/035.
Version history
- Received: June 26, 2018
- Accepted: September 24, 2018
- Accepted Manuscript published: September 27, 2018 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: October 24, 2018 (version 2)
- Version of Record updated: October 31, 2018 (version 3)
Copyright
© 2018, Düsterwald et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Biophysical models reveal the relative importance of transporter proteins and impermeant anions in chloride homeostasis
eLife 7:e39575.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.39575
Further reading
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Background:
Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Most cases of preterm birth occur spontaneously and result from preterm labor with intact (spontaneous preterm labor [sPTL]) or ruptured (preterm prelabor rupture of membranes [PPROM]) membranes. The prediction of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) remains underpowered due to its syndromic nature and the dearth of independent analyses of the vaginal host immune response. Thus, we conducted the largest longitudinal investigation targeting vaginal immune mediators, referred to herein as the immunoproteome, in a population at high risk for sPTB.
Methods:
Vaginal swabs were collected across gestation from pregnant women who ultimately underwent term birth, sPTL, or PPROM. Cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and antimicrobial peptides in the samples were quantified via specific and sensitive immunoassays. Predictive models were constructed from immune mediator concentrations.
Results:
Throughout uncomplicated gestation, the vaginal immunoproteome harbors a cytokine network with a homeostatic profile. Yet, the vaginal immunoproteome is skewed toward a pro-inflammatory state in pregnant women who ultimately experience sPTL and PPROM. Such an inflammatory profile includes increased monocyte chemoattractants, cytokines indicative of macrophage and T-cell activation, and reduced antimicrobial proteins/peptides. The vaginal immunoproteome has improved predictive value over maternal characteristics alone for identifying women at risk for early (<34 weeks) sPTB.
Conclusions:
The vaginal immunoproteome undergoes homeostatic changes throughout gestation and deviations from this shift are associated with sPTB. Furthermore, the vaginal immunoproteome can be leveraged as a potential biomarker for early sPTB, a subset of sPTB associated with extremely adverse neonatal outcomes.
Funding:
This research was conducted by the Perinatology Research Branch, Division of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (NICHD/NIH/DHHS) under contract HHSN275201300006C. ALT, KRT, and NGL were supported by the Wayne State University Perinatal Initiative in Maternal, Perinatal and Child Health.
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Runs of homozygosity (ROH) segments, contiguous homozygous regions in a genome were traditionally linked to families and inbred populations. However, a growing literature suggests that ROHs are ubiquitous in outbred populations. Still, most existing genetic studies of ROH in populations are limited to aggregated ROH content across the genome, which does not offer the resolution for mapping causal loci. This limitation is mainly due to a lack of methods for the efficient identification of shared ROH diplotypes. Here, we present a new method, ROH-DICE, to find large ROH diplotype clusters, sufficiently long ROHs shared by a sufficient number of individuals, in large cohorts. ROH-DICE identified over 1 million ROH diplotypes that span over 100 SNPs and are shared by more than 100 UK Biobank participants. Moreover, we found significant associations of clustered ROH diplotypes across the genome with various self-reported diseases, with the strongest associations found between the extended HLA region and autoimmune disorders. We found an association between a diplotype covering the HFE gene and hemochromatosis, even though the well-known causal SNP was not directly genotyped or imputed. Using a genome-wide scan, we identified a putative association between carriers of an ROH diplotype in chromosome 4 and an increase in mortality among COVID-19 patients (P-value=1.82×10-11). In summary, our ROH-DICE method, by calling out large ROH diplotypes in a large outbred population, enables further population genetics into the demographic history of large populations. More importantly, our method enables a new genome-wide mapping approach for finding disease-causing loci with multi-marker recessive effects at a population scale.
