Curated Optogenetic Publication Database

Abstract: Mitochondrial quality is crucial for maintaining brain homeostasis. BNIP3L/NIX, a mitophagy receptor, has been linked to neurological disorders, yet its specific function in the brain remains unclear. We found BNIP3L highly expressed in basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons. Selective deletion of bnip3l in BLA glutamatergic neurons (BLAGLU) impaired contextual fear memory, accompanied by reduced neuronal excitation and mitochondrial respiration. Notably, fear conditioning did not invariably activate mitophagy in BLAGLU neurons. Overexpression of both wild-type and a mitophagy-deficient mutant (BNIP3LΔLIR) in BLAGLU neurons was sufficient to rescue the contextual fear memory deficits in bnip3l-/- mice, suggesting a non-mitophagy role. Instead, we detected a prompt mitochondrial fission in BLAGLU neurons after foot-shock conditioning, an effect abolished by bnip3l deletion. Inhibition of Drp1 with Mdivi-1 disrupted memory formation, whereas optogenetic activation of Drp1 restored neuronal excitation and rescued memory deficits in bnip3l-/- mice. These data indicated an essential role of BNIP3L-mediated mitochondrial fission in modulating contextual fear memory. Mechanistically, BNIP3L and Drp1 competitively interact with AMPK, leading to reduced Drp1 phosphorylation and increased Drp1 accumulation on mitochondria, thereby promoting mitochondrial fission. Taken together, the present study revealed a previously uncharacterized, non-mitophagy-dependent role for BNIP3L in contextual fear memory conditioning.

Abstract: Sepsis-induced myocardiopathy, characterized by innate immune cells infiltration and proinflammatory cytokines release, may lead to perfusion failure or even life-threatening cardiogenic shock. Macrophages-mediated inflammation has been shown to contribute to sepsis-induced myocardiopathy. In the current study, we introduced two photoactivated adenylyl cyclases (PACs), Beggiatoa sp. PAC (bPAC) and Beggiatoa sp. IS2 PAC (biPAC) into macrophages by transfection to detect the effects of light-induced regulation of macrophage pro-inflammatory response and LPS-induced sepsis-induced myocardiopathy. By this method, we uncovered that blue light-induced bPAC or biPAC activation considerably inhibited the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1 and TNF-α, both at mRNA and protein levels. Further, we assembled a GelMA-Macrophages-LED system, which consists of GelMA-a type of light crosslink hydrogel, gene modulated macrophages and wireless LED device, to allow light to regulate cardiac inflammation in situ with murine models of LPS-induced sepsis. Our results showed significant inhibition of leukocytes infiltration, especially macrophages and neutrophils, suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines release, and alleviation of sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Thus, our study may represent an emerging means to treat sepsis-induced myocardiopathy and other cardiovascular diseases by photo-activated regulating macrophage function.