Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts is a developmental disorder of the gliovascular unit
- Collège de France, France
- GIP Cyceron, France
- ESPCI, France
- University of Paris, France
- Hopital Trousseau, France
- Institut Cochin, France
- University of Barcelona, Spain
- INSERM U919, France
Abstract
Absence of the astrocyte-specific membrane protein MLC1 is responsible for megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC), a rare type of leukodystrophy characterized by early-onset macrocephaly and progressive white matter vacuolation that lead to ataxia, spasticity, and cognitive decline. During postnatal development (from P5 to P15 in the mouse), MLC1 forms a membrane complex with GlialCAM (another astrocytic transmembrane protein) at the junctions between perivascular astrocytic processes. Perivascular astrocytic processes along with blood vessels form the gliovascular unit. It was not previously known how MLC1 influences the physiology of the gliovascular unit. Here, using the Mlc1 knock-out (KO) mouse model of MLC, we demonstrated that MLC1 controls the postnatal development and organization of perivascular astrocytic processes, vascular smooth muscle cell contractility, neurovascular coupling and intraparenchymal interstitial fluid clearance. Our data suggest that MLC is a developmental disorder of the gliovascular unit, and perivascular astrocytic processes and vascular smooth muscle cell maturation defects are primary events in the pathogenesis of MLC and therapeutic targets for this disease.
Data availability
All data has been included in the manuscript and supporting files (please see supplementary tables for raw data).
Article and author information
Author details
Anne-Cécile Boulay
Salvatore Cisternino
Martine Cohen-Salmon
Funding
Association Européenne contre les Leucodystrophies (ELA2012-014C2B)
- Martine Cohen-Salmon
Fondation Maladies Rares (20170603)
- Martine Cohen-Salmon
Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (PLP20170939025p60)
- Alice Gilbert
Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (AJE20171039094)
- Martine Cohen-Salmon
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were carried out in compliance with the European Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes and the guidelines issued by the French National Animal Care and Use Committee (reference: 2019021814073504 and 2019022113258393).
Human subjects: Our study included specimens obtained from the brain collection "Hôpitaux Universitaires de l'Est Parisien - Neuropathologie du développement" (Biobank identification number BB-0033-00082). Informed consent was obtained for autopsy of the brain and histological examination.
Copyright
© 2021, Gilbert 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.
Metrics
-
- 1,317
- views
-
- 239
- downloads
-
- 20
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts is a developmental disorder of the gliovascular unit
eLife 10:e71379.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71379
Further reading
-
- Neuroscience
Unipolar brush cells (UBCs) are excitatory interneurons in the cerebellar cortex that receive mossy fiber (MF) inputs and excite granule cells. The UBC population responds to brief burst activation of MFs with a continuum of temporal transformations, but it is not known how UBCs transform the diverse range of MF input patterns that occur in vivo. Here, we use cell-attached recordings from UBCs in acute cerebellar slices to examine responses to MF firing patterns that are based on in vivo recordings. We find that MFs evoke a continuum of responses in the UBC population, mediated by three different types of glutamate receptors that each convey a specialized component. AMPARs transmit timing information for single stimuli at up to 5 spikes/s, and for very brief bursts. A combination of mGluR2/3s (inhibitory) and mGluR1s (excitatory) mediates a continuum of delayed, and broadened responses to longer bursts, and to sustained high frequency activation. Variability in the mGluR2/3 component controls the time course of the onset of firing, and variability in the mGluR1 component controls the duration of prolonged firing. We conclude that the combination of glutamate receptor types allows each UBC to simultaneously convey different aspects of MF firing. These findings establish that UBCs are highly flexible circuit elements that provide diverse temporal transformations that are well suited to contribute to specialized processing in different regions of the cerebellar cortex.
-
- Neuroscience
The specific role that prolactin plays in lactational infertility, as distinct from other suckling or metabolic cues, remains unresolved. Here, deletion of the prolactin receptor (Prlr) from forebrain neurons or arcuate kisspeptin neurons resulted in failure to maintain normal lactation-induced suppression of estrous cycles. Kisspeptin immunoreactivity and pulsatile LH secretion were increased in these mice, even in the presence of ongoing suckling stimulation and lactation. GCaMP fibre photometry of arcuate kisspeptin neurons revealed that the normal episodic activity of these neurons is rapidly suppressed in pregnancy and this was maintained throughout early lactation. Deletion of Prlr from arcuate kisspeptin neurons resulted in early reactivation of episodic activity of kisspeptin neurons prior to a premature return of reproductive cycles in early lactation. These observations show dynamic variation in arcuate kisspeptin neuronal activity associated with the hormonal changes of pregnancy and lactation, and provide direct evidence that prolactin action on arcuate kisspeptin neurons is necessary for suppressing fertility during lactation in mice.
