JCI early table of contents for April 1, 2013
Promoting muscle regeneration in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a degenerative skeletal muscle disease caused by mutations in the protein dystrophin. Dystrophin functions to protect muscle cells from injury and loss of functional dystrophin results in break down and loss of muscle cells. A cellular signal relay system, known as a MAP kinase cascade, regulates the function of muscle stem cells, serving as a source of the new cells that are required for muscle regeneration. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers led by Anton Bennett at Yale University identified the protein MKP-5 as a negative regulator of MAP kinase cascades in muscle stem cells. Loss of MKP-5 in a mouse model of DMD enhanced the development of new muscle cells (myogenesis) and helped prevent muscle degeneration. These results identify MKP-5 as an important suppressor of myogenesis and suggest that therapeutics that inhibit MKP-5 could be useful in the treatment of degenerative muscle diseases.
TITLE:
Improved regenerative myogenesis and muscular dystrophy in mice lacking MKP-5
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Anton Bennett
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Phone: 203-737-2441; Fax: 203-737-2738; E-mail: anton.bennett@yale.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/64375?key=bbd026972477a9b98a24
Alternative fuel for your brain
Tight control of blood glucose levels is critical to mitigating the long-term complications of diabetes; however, the intensive insulin therapy required for this control is frequently accompanied by recurrent episodes of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemic episodes have been implicated in brain damage and cognitive impairment. Though the brain depends predominantly on glucose as an energy source, it can also use alternative fuels, such as lactate, to satisfy its energy requirements. In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Raimund Herzog and colleagues at Yale University used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure the concentrations and enrichment of different energy substrates and their metabolites in a rat model of recurrent hypoglycemia. They found that recurrent hypoglycemia enhances neuronal uptake of lactate which allows the brain to retain normal neural activity during hypoglycemia. These observations suggest that lactate supports neuronal function and indicate that supplementation of alternative fuels could protect the brain during hypoglycemia.
TITLE:
Lactate preserves neuronal metabolism and function following antecedent recurrent hypoglycemia
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Raimund I. Herzog
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Phone: 203-737-4773; E-mail: raimund.herzog@yale.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65105?key=b71f996b96b91c84d096
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
TITLE:
MicroRNA-26 governs profibrillatory inward-rectifier potassium current changes in atrial fibrillation
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Stanley Nattel
Montreal Heart Institute, Montreal, PQ, CAN
Phone: (514) 376-3330 ext. 3990; Fax: (514) 376-1355; E-mail: stanley.nattel@icm-mhi.org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/62185?key=ef2561a4a7949ec7f659
TITLE:
Melanoma adapts to RAF/MEK inhibitors through FOXD3-mediated upregulation of ERBB3
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Andrew Aplin
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Phone: 215 503 7296; E-mail: Andrew.Aplin@KimmelCancerCenter.Org
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65780?key=f9536e266df3ab73b9f1
TITLE:
SLITRK6 mutations cause myopia and deafness in humans and mice
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mustafa Tekin
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Phone: 305-243-2381; Fax: 305-243-2703; E-mail: MTekin@med.miami.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/65853?key=b2bb9afa9e0cee02bd6b
TITLE:
Co-operativity of imprinted genes inactivated by acquired chromosome 20q deletions
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Anthony Green
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, , GBR
Phone: +44-1223-336829; E-mail: arg1000@cam.ac.uk
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66113?key=73dc8fe4bcb928ca86e4
TITLE:
The phosphatase CD148 promotes airway hyperresponsiveness through SRC family kinases
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Arthur Weiss
Dept. Of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA
Phone: 415/476-8983; Fax: 415-502-5081; E-mail: aweiss@medicine.ucsf.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/66397?key=e400e2a8f6ccf1c7863b
TITLE:
Discovering naturally processed antigenic determinants that confer protective T-cell immunity
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Sebastian Joyce
Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
Phone: 615-322-1472; E-mail: Sebastian.Joyce@Vanderbilt.edu
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/67388?key=c7801a36d65b917a2097
Provided by Journal of Clinical Investigation
