Investigation of the Zinc-Mitophagy Signaling in Hypoxic Cells a Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the College of Arts An
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Investigation of the Zinc-Mitophagy Signaling in Hypoxic Cells A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Qiping Lu May 2020 © 2020 Qiping Lu. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Investigation of the Zinc-Mitophagy Signaling in Hypoxic Cells by QIPING LU has been approved for the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the College of Arts and Sciences by Yang V. Li Professor of Biomedical Sciences Florenz Plassmann Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT LU, QIPING, Ph.D., May 2020, Molecular and Cellular Biology Investigation of the Zinc-Mitophagy Signaling in Hypoxic Cells Director of Dissertation: Yang V. Li Zinc is one of the most essential trace elements in the body. The concentration of intracellular free zinc is strictly regulated. The abnormal zinc concentration has been implicated in numerous clinical manifestations including ischemic stroke. Zinc homeostasis is achieved by proteins and organelles which sequester zinc or release zinc. Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell, the proper function of mitochondria is crucial for cellular metabolisms and physiological activities, their quality and quantity are regulated by mitophagy through selectively removing damaged mitochondria. Emerging evidence over the past decade has shown that zinc affects mitochondria in response to ischemia. It is progressively clear that zinc-mitochondrial interactions occur in and contribute to ischemic injury. Among the pathological effects of zinc accumulation on mitochondria, zinc induced release and accumulation of ROS draws special interest. ROS is a major cause of mitochondrial damage and initiates mitophagy. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that mitophagy plays critical roles in the pathophysiological process of cerebral ischemia. In this study I investigated the role of zinc and mitochondria in hypoxia-induced mitophagy, screened for and evaluated the cross talks between zinc and mitophagy under hypoxia condition. First, I studied the distribution of intracellular free zinc in multiple types of cell cultures, including HeLa cells, cortical neurons, and pancreatic HIT-T15 cells. The live cell fluorescent imaging with zinc specific probe 4 revealed that mitochondria, ER and the Golgi apparatus are potential zinc storage sites during cellular zinc homeostasis. Among them, mitochondria serve as a major organelle that sequesters zinc. I demonstrated the critical roles of zinc in stroke through my study in in vitro stroke model by showing that zinc chelation alleviates the hypoxia-triggered mitophagy activity, and zinc influx damages mitochondria and induces mitophagy. The interplay between zinc and mitophagy during hypoxia was then investigated by large- scale screening and fine-scale validation. The expression of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) was elevated to defend the oxidative stresses during hypoxia and zinc influx, and during this process, spastic paraplegia 7 (SPG7) was high up-regulated, and possibly participate in the formation of mitochondrial permeability transient pore. In contrast, SOD1 is not responsive to the mitochondrial uncoupler, Carbonyl cyanide-4- (trifluoromethoxy) phenylhydrazone (FCCP), and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) takes the major role in defending FCCP-induced oxidative stress defense. In conclusion, zinc chelation is effective in rescuing cells from stresses induced by stroke/hypoxia by reducing the damages to mitochondria, preserving the mitochondrial integrity and lowering the mitophagy activity. Furthermore, the concept of zinc and mitophagy crosstalk during hypoxia/stroke was demonstrated and investigated. Through the elucidation of zinc-mitophagy crosstalk, more promising interventions can be invented to target the zinc-mitophagy signaling during stroke. 5 DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my father Aijun Lu Who had inspired me to chase a dream in life science . 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENT First and foremost, I would like to express the gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Yang V Li, for his constant guidance, strong support, valuable teaching, extraordinary patience through my doctorial training at Ohio University. He taught me how to fight through difficulties, solve problems, and maintain optimism. He has not only trained me so that I am capable with research in depth, but also quickly adapted to a past-paved environment with well-trained critical thinking ability. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my committee, Dr. Robert Colvin, Dr. Tomo Sugiyama, Dr. Zhihua Hua for maintaining the high standard and giving me valuable suggestions and being very supportive on my work. Moreover, I would like to thank Dr. Sarah Wyatt for her teaching in scientific writing and presentation, especially for her strong support and help in solving the difficulties I have faced. I am grateful to everyone who was or is in the lab: Dr. Christian Stork, Kira Slepchenko, Dr. Zhijun Shen, Dr. Xinge Yu, Yuli Hu, Zihui Wang, Hariprakash Haragopal, and Katherine knies for their assistance, their instructive discussion during my study. In addition, I would like to thank all my friends, Yunyi Feng, Panduan An, Yanrong Qian, Xiaodan Zhao and many more, for their encouragement and support during the past years. Their intelligence and persistence have always inspired me to pursue a better outcome. 7 Last but not least, my deepest appreciation goes to my mother, Linge Liu, my brother and sister-in-law, Qiwei Lu and Yang Li, for their whole-hearted and everlasting support, care and love. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ...........................................................................................................................3 Dedication .......................................................................................................................5 Acknowledgment .............................................................................................................6 List of Tables................................................................................................................. 11 List of Figures ............................................................................................................... 12 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ 14 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 15 1. Zinc ..................................................................................................................... 15 1.1 Zinc Content and its Roles ............................................................................ 15 1.2 Zinc Homeostasis and Trafficking ................................................................ 16 1.3 Fluorescent Detection of Zinc ....................................................................... 17 1.4 Zinc in Cerebral Ischemia............................................................................. 18 2. Hypoxia ............................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Hypoxia Signaling Pathway ......................................................................... 19 2.2 Hypoxia in Stroke ........................................................................................ 20 2.3 Hypoxia Inducing Chemicals........................................................................ 21 3. Mitochondria ....................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Mitochondrial Structure and Function .......................................................... 22 3.2 Mitochondrial Quality Control ..................................................................... 23 3.3 Molecular Mechanisms of Mitophagy .......................................................... 25 3.4 Mitophagy in Hypoxia .................................................................................. 26 4. The Potential Interplay between Zinc and Mitophagy during Hypoxia.................. 27 Specific Aims ................................................................................................................ 29 Specific Aim 1: To Investigate the Intracellular Distribution of Free Zinc ................ 29 Specific Aim 2: To Investigate the Effect of Zinc on Mitophagy during Hypoxia by Modulating the Zinc Levels ..................................................................................... 30 Specific Aim 3: To Investigate How Zinc Interplays with Mitophagy during Hypoxia by Screening and Validating the Candidate Genes involved in the Signaling Pathways ................................................................................................................................ 31 Materials and Methods .................................................................................................. 32 1.Cell Cultures ......................................................................................................... 32 9 2. Zinc Labeling ....................................................................................................... 32 3. Organelle and Zinc Co-labeling............................................................................ 33 4. Fluorescence Imaging .......................................................................................... 34 5. in vitro Treatment to Induce or