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Browsing by Subject "FRET"
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Item Defining the Intravital Renal Disposition of Fluorescence-Quenched Exenatide(American Chemical Society, 2023) Bryniarski, Mark A.; Sandoval, Ruben M.; Ruszaj, Donna M.; Fraser-McArthur, John; Yee, Benjamin M.; Yacoub, Rabi; Chaves, Lee D.; Campos-Bilderback, Silvia B.; Molitoris, Bruce A.; Morris, Marilyn E.; Medicine, School of MedicineDespite the understanding that renal clearance is pivotal for driving the pharmacokinetics of numerous therapeutic proteins and peptides, the specific processes that occur following glomerular filtration remain poorly defined. For instance, sites of catabolism within the proximal tubule can occur at the brush border, within lysosomes following endocytosis, or even within the tubule lumen itself. The objective of the current study was to address these limitations and develop methodology to study the kidney disposition of a model therapeutic protein. Exenatide is a peptide used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. Glomerular filtration and ensuing renal catabolism have been shown to be its principal clearance pathway. Here, we designed and validated a Förster resonance energy transfer-quenched exenatide derivative to provide critical information on the renal handling of exenatide. A combination of in vitro techniques was used to confirm substantial fluorescence quenching of intact peptide that was released upon proteolytic cleavage. This evaluation was then followed by an assessment of the in vivo disposition of quenched exenatide directly within kidneys of living rats via intravital two-photon microscopy. Live imaging demonstrated rapid glomerular filtration and identified exenatide metabolism occurred within the subapical regions of the proximal tubule epithelia, with subsequent intracellular trafficking of cleaved fragments. These results provide a novel examination into the real-time, intravital disposition of a protein therapeutic within the kidney and offer a platform to build upon for future work.Item Detection of Osmotic Shock-Induced Extracellular Nucleotide Release with a Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Sensor of ADP and ATP(MDPI, 2019-07-24) Trull, Keelan J.; Miller, Piper; Tat, Kiet; Varney, S. Ashley; Conley, Jason M.; Tantama, Mathew; Pediatrics, School of MedicinePurinergic signals, such as extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP), mediate intercellular communication and stress responses throughout mammalian tissues, but the dynamics of their release and clearance are still not well understood. Although physiochemical methods provide important insight into physiology, genetically encoded optical sensors have proven particularly powerful in the quantification of signaling in live specimens. Indeed, genetically encoded luminescent and fluorescent sensors provide new insights into ATP-mediated purinergic signaling. However, new tools to detect extracellular ADP are still required. To this end, in this study, we use protein engineering to generate a new genetically encoded sensor that employs a high-affinity bacterial ADP-binding protein and reports a change in occupancy with a change in the Förster-type resonance energy transfer (FRET) between cyan and yellow fluorescent proteins. We characterize the sensor in both protein solution studies, as well as live-cell microscopy. This new sensor responds to nanomolar and micromolar concentrations of ADP and ATP in solution, respectively, and in principle it is the first fully-genetically encoded sensor with sufficiently high affinity for ADP to detect low levels of extracellular ADP. Furthermore, we demonstrate that tethering the sensor to the cell surface enables the detection of physiologically relevant nucleotide release induced by hypoosmotic shock as a model of tissue edema. Thus, we provide a new tool to study purinergic signaling that can be used across genetically tractable model systems.Item Effects of Collagen Gel Stiffness on Cdc42 Activities of Endothelial Colony Forming Cells during Early Vacuole Formation(2013-08-14) Kim, Seung Joon; Na, Sungsoo; Xie, Dong; Li, JiliangRecent preclinical reports have provided evidence that endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs), a subset of endothelial progenitor cells, significantly improve vessel formation, largely due to their robust vasculogenic potential. While it has been known that the Rho family GTPase Cdc42 is involved in this ECFC-driven vessel formation process, the effect of extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness on its activity during vessel formation is largely unknown. Using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based Cdc42 biosensor, we examined the spatio-temporal activity of Cdc42 of ECFCs in three-dimensional (3D) collagen matrices with varying stiffness. The result revealed that ECFCs exhibited an increase in Cdc42 activity in a soft (150 Pa) matrix, while they were much less responsive in a rigid (1 kPa) matrix. In both soft and rigid matrices, Cdc42 was highly activated near vacuoles. However, its activity is higher in a soft matrix than that in a rigid matrix. The observed Cdc42 activity was closely associated with vacuole formation. Soft matrices induced higher Cdc42 activity and faster vacuole formation than rigid matrices. However, vacuole area is not dependent on the stiffness of matrices. Time courses of Cdc42 activity and vacuole formation data revealed that Cdc42 activity proceeds vacuole formation. Collectively, these results suggest that matrix stiffness is critical in regulating Cdc42 activity in ECFCs and its activation is an important step in early vacuole formation.Item Measurement of the Activity of the ATG4 Cysteine Proteases(Elsevier, 2017) Li, Min; Fu, Yuanyuan; Yang, Zuolong; Yin, Xiao-Ming; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of MedicineWhile only one Atg4 is present in yeast, there are four Atg4 homologues in human and in mouse with different substrate specificities and catalytic efficiencies. The molecule Atg4 is a type of cysteine protease, and is known for its crucial roles in cleavage of the Atg8 family proteins before they can be conjugated to phospholipids, and also in cleavage of the conjugated Atg8 molecules from the membrane, a process known as deconjugation. Both processes are required for the maximal efficiency in autophagosome biogenesis. Atg4 could thus be a target for intervention of the autophagy process. It is thus important to measure Atg4 activity to determine and to modulate the autophagy function. Here we review the catalytic functions and regulatory mechanisms of human Atg4 proteases, and discuss the methodology for analyzing Atg4 activity in details.