Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-aa supports hair cell survival by regulating mitochondrial function
Abstract
To support cell survival, mitochondria must balance energy production with oxidative stress. Inner ear hair cells are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress; thus require tight mitochondrial regulation. We identified a novel molecular regulator of the hair cells' mitochondria and survival: Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-aa (Pappaa). Hair cells in zebrafish pappaa mutants exhibit mitochondrial defects, including elevated mitochondrial calcium, transmembrane potential, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and reduced antioxidant expression. In pappaa mutants, hair cell death is enhanced by stimulation of mitochondrial calcium or ROS production and suppressed by a mitochondrial ROS scavenger. As a secreted metalloprotease, Pappaa stimulates extracellular insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) bioavailability. We found that the pappaa mutants' enhanced hair cell loss can be suppressed by stimulation of IGF1 availability and that Pappaa-IGF1 signaling acts post-developmentally to support hair cell survival. These results reveal Pappaa as an extracellular regulator of hair cell survival and essential mitochondrial function.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figures 1,3,4,5,6,7 and all supplemental figures.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
- Marc A Wolman
Saudi Ministry of Education
- Mroj Alassaf
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (L00457-A1) of the University of Wisconsin.
Copyright
© 2019, Alassaf 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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