Chronic pain hypersensitivity depends on N-type voltage-gated calcium channels (CaV2.2). However, the use of CaV2.2 blockers in pain therapeutics is limited by side effects that result from inhibited physiological functions of these channels. Here we report suppression of both inflammatory and neuropathic hypersensitivity by inhibiting the binding of the axonal collapsin response mediator protein 2 (CRMP-2) to CaV2.2, thus reducing channel function. A 15-amino acid peptide of CRMP-2 fused to the transduction domain of HIV TAT protein (TAT-CBD3) decreases neurotransmitter release from nociceptive dorsal root ganglion neurons, reduces meningeal blood flow, reduces nocifensive behavior induced by subcutaneous formalin injection or following corneal capsaicin application, and reverses neuropathic hypersensitivity produced by the antiretroviral drug 2’,3’-dideoxycytidine. TAT-CBD3 was mildly anxiolytic but innocuous on sensorimotor and cognitive functions and despair. By preventing CRMP-2-mediated enhancement of CaV2.2 function, TAT-CBD3 alleviates inflammatory and neuropathic hypersensitivity, an approach that may prove useful in managing clinical pain.

Single-channel current measurements of excised patches with reconstituted purified mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier (AAC) indicates the presence of a large low cation selective (PK+/PCl- = 4.3 +/- 0.6) channel. The channel conductance has multiple sublevels and varies from 300 to 600 pS. It has low probability of current fluctuations at Vhold up to 80-100 mV of both signs and is reversibly gated at Vhold > 150 mV. The opening of the channel is Ca(2+)-dependent (1 mM Ca2+) and can be reversibly closed on removal of Ca2+. It is strongly pH dependent and closes completely at pHex 5.2. The AAC-specific inhibitor bongkrekate inhibits the channel partially and completely in combination with ADP, whereas carboxyatractylate did not affect the conductance. The effects of these AAC-specific ligands prove that the channel activity belongs to AAC. The AAC-linked conductance can clearly be differentiated from the porin channel, rarely detected in our preparations. The properties of the AAC-linked channel coincide with the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MTP), which is also affected by the AAC ligands [Hunter, D. R., & Haworth, R. A. (1979) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 195, 453-459] and resembles the mitochondrial "multiconductance channel" [Kinnally, K. W., Campo, M. L., & Tedeschi, H. T. (1989) J. Bioenerg. Biomembr. 21, 497-506] or "megachannel" [Petronilli, V., Szabo, I., & Zoratti, M. (1989) FEBS Lett. 259, 137-143]. Therefore we conclude that the AAC, when converted into a large unselective channel, is a key component in the MTP and thus is involved in the ischemia-reperfusion damage and cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations. The channel opening in AAC is proposed to be caused by binding of Ca2+ to the cardiolipin, tightly bound to AAC, thus releasing positive charges within the AAC which open the gate.

Summary Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in hypoxic niches within bone marrow and cord blood. Yet, essentially all HSC studies have been performed with cells isolated and processed in non-physiologic ambient air. By collecting and manipulating bone marrow and cord blood in native conditions of hypoxia, we demonstrate that brief exposure to ambient oxygen decreases recovery of long-term repopulating HSCs and increases progenitor cells, a phenomenon we term Extra Physiologic Oxygen Shock/Stress (EPHOSS). Thus, true numbers of HSCs in the bone marrow and cord blood are routinely underestimated. We linked ROS production and induction of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) via cyclophilin D and p53 as mechanisms of EPHOSS. MPTP inhibitor Cyclosporine A protects mouse bone marrow and human cord blood HSCs from EPHOSS during collection in air, resulting in increased recovery of transplantable HSCs. Mitigating EPHOSS during cell collection and processing by pharmacological means may be clinically advantageous for transplantation.

The mechanisms of Ca 2+ -induced release of Cytochrome c (Cyt c) from rat brain mitochondria were examined quantitatively using a capture ELISA. In 75 or 125 mM KCl-based media 1.4 lmol Ca 2+ /mg protein caused depolarization and mitochondrial swelling. However, this resulted in partial Cyt c release only in 75 mM KCl. The release was inhibited by Ru 360 , an inhibitor of the Ca 2+ uniporter, and by cyclosporin A plus ADP, a combination of mitochondrial permeability transition inhibitors. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that Ca 2+ -induced swelling caused rupture of the outer membrane only in 75 mM KCl. Koenig's polyanion, an inhibitor of mitochondrial porin (VDAC), enhanced swelling and amplified Cyt c release. Dextran T70 that is known to enhance mitochondrial contact site formation did not prevent Cyt c release. Exposure of cultured cortical neurons to 500 lM glutamate for 5 min caused Cyt c release into the cytosol 30 min after glutamate removal. MK-801 or CsA inhibited this release. Thus, the release of Cyt c from CNS mitochondria induced by Ca 2+ in vitro as well as in situ involved the mPT and appeared to require the rupture of the outer membrane.

Mitochondria were simultaneously isolated from striatum and cortex of adult rats and compared in functional assays for their sensitivity to calcium activation of the permeability transition. Striatal mitochondria showed an increased dose-dependent sensitivity to Ca2+ compared with cortical mitochondria, as measured by mitochondrial depolarization, swelling, Ca2+ uptake, reactive oxygen species production, and respiration. Ratios of ATP to ADP were lower in striatal mitochondria exposed to calcium despite equal amounts of ADP and ATP under respiring and nonrespiring conditions. The Ca2+-induced changes were inhibited by cyclosporin A or ADP. These responses are consistent with Ca2+ activation of both low and high permeability pathways constituting the mitochondrial permeability transition. In addition to the striatal supersensitivity to induction of the permeability transition, cyclosporin A inhibition was less potent in striatal mitochondria. Immunoblots indicated that striatal mitochondria contained more cyclophilin D than cortical mitochondria. Thus striatal mitochondria may be selectively vulnerable to the permeability transition. Subsequent mitochondrial dysfunction could contribute to the initial toxicity of striatal neurons in Huntington's disease.