Identification of molecules involved in neurite outgrowth during development and/or regeneration is a major goal in the field of neuroscience. Retinoic acid (RA) is a biologically important metabolite of vitamin A that acts as a trophic factor and has been implicated in neurite outgrowth and regeneration in many vertebrate species. Although abundant in the CNS of many vertebrates, the precise role of RA in neural regeneration has yet to be determined. Moreover, very little information is available regarding the role of RA in invertebrate nervous systems. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that RA induces neurite outgrowth from invertebrate neurons. Using individually identified neurons isolated from the CNS of Lymnaea stagnalis, we demonstrated that a significantly greater proportion of cells produced neurite outgrowth in RA. RA also extended the duration of time that cells remained electrically excitable in vitro, and we showed that exogenously applied RA acted as a chemoattractive factor and induced growth cone turning toward the source of RA. This is the first demonstration that RA can induce turning of an individual growth cone. These data strongly suggest that the actions of RA on neurite outgrowth and cell survival are highly conserved across species.

The vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid (RA), is well known for its roles in neural development and regeneration. We have previously shown that RA can induce positive growth cone turning in regenerating neurons in vitro. In this study, we address the subcellular mechanisms underlying this chemo-attractive response, using identified central neurons from the adult mollusc, Lymnaea stagnalis. We show that the RA-induced positive growth cone turning was maintained in the presence of the transcriptional inhibitor, actinomycin D. We also physically transected the neurites from the cell body and showed that isolated growth cones retain the capacity to turn toward a gradient of RA. Moreover, this attractive turning is dependent on de novo local protein synthesis and Ca 2ϩ influx. Most of RA's actions during neurite outgrowth and regeneration require gene transcription, although these data show for the first time in any species, that the chemotropic action of RA in guiding neurite outgrowth, involves a novel, nongenomic mechanism.

Retinoic acid (RA) is an active metabolite of Vitamin A that plays an important role in the growth and differentiation of many cell types. All-trans RA (atRA) is the retinoic acid isomer that has been most widely studied in the nervous system, and can induce and direct neurite outgrowth from both vertebrate and invertebrate preparations. The presence and role of the 9-cis-RA isomer in the nervous system is far less well defined. Here, we used high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) to show for the first time, the presence of both atRA and 9-cis-RA in the CNS of an invertebrate. We then demonstrated that 9-cis-RA was capable of exerting the same neurotrophic and chemotropic effects on cultured neurons as atRA. In this study, significantly more cells showed neurite outgrowth in 9-cis-RA versus the EtOH vehicle control, and 9-cis-RA significantly increased the number and length of neurites from identified neurons after 4 d in culture. 9-cis-RA also extended the duration of time that cells remained electrically excitable in culture. Furthermore, we showed for the first time in any species, that exogenous application of 9-cis-RA induced positive growth cone turning of cultured neurons. This study provides the first evidence for the presence of both atRA and 9-cis-RA in an invertebrate CNS and also provides the first direct evidence for a potential physiological role for 9-cis-RA in neuronal regeneration and axon pathfinding.

Over a year after the initial emergence of the disease, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to strain healthcare systems worldwide. The value of feedback and connection between clinical care, public health, and death investigation systems has never been more clear. To this end, knowledge of the radiologic and histopathologic features of fatal COVID-19 is critical for those working with the living and the dead. Most of the medical descriptions of COVID-19 are either focused on clinical in vivo medical imaging or autopsies performed following an intensive course of treatment over days to weeks prior to death, rather than deaths in the community prior to hospitalization. Here we report the postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and lung histopathology in five fatal cases of COVID-19 that were subject to medicolegal death investigation. All individuals died in the community without medical treatment, or after a brief terminal admission to hospital. In these cases, the main PMCT findings included: diffuse lung changes including ground glass-type opacifications, a “crazy paving” appearance, variable areas of more dense consolidation, and relatively few areas of spared/less involved lung parenchyma. The unifying histopathology was diffuse alveolar damage in various stages of cellular evolution. In all cases, the pattern of PMCT and the lung histopathology corroborated the diagnosis of COVID-19. We propose the routine use of PMCT as a potential screening tool for the identification of COVID-19 related fatalities in the medicolegal setting where a paucity of historical information may not otherwise permit the identification of this disease prior to autopsy.