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Minde, D.-P.

Publications and source records attributed to Minde, D.-P..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Reversible hypervascularization drives cognitive decline and blood-brain barrier damage during aging

Cerebrovascular dysfunction emerges early in neurodegeneration, yet how vascular structure, blood-brain barrier (BBB) failure, and cognition are linked remains undefined. Using VesselPro, a whole-brain pipeline integrating perfusion-resolved 3D imaging with spatial proteomics, we mapped vascular aging across the mouse lifespan. We identify two discrete trajectories: a hypovascular state and a previously unrecognized hyper-vascular, BBB-compromised state, defined relative to a young-adult vascular baseline. The hyper-vascular trajectory, concentrated in the cortex and hippocampus, was associated with marked spatial memory impairment and pervasive BBB leakage. Spatial proteomics revealed a coordinated program involving angiogenic activation, endothelial stress, cytoskeletal remodeling, and inflammatory signaling. Cross-species comparison with human proteomic biomarkers from the UK Biobank showed strong alignment between the mouse hypervascular signature and vascular dementia risk, but minimal concordance with Alzheimers disease, defining a vascular-specific dementia endotype. Transient Tie2 activation with AKB-9778 attenuated this trajectory, improving vessel organization, BBB integrity, and memory performance. Our findings show that endothelial instability is a key mechanistic driver of this heterogeneous vascular aging state. Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=95 SRC="FIGDIR/small/720441v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (33K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@39494aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@faa4acorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1511dd5org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7db29b_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG HighlightsO_LIVesselPro: we developed a pipeline for capturing perfused blood vessels in the brain: unexpected bifurcation in vascular aging: traditional hypovascular state and a novel, hypervascular, BBB-compromised state. C_LIO_LIHypervascular pathology: Linked the hypervascular profile in the cortex and hippocampus to spatial memory impairment, pervasive BBB leakage, and angiogenic inflammatory signaling. C_LIO_LIClinical endotype: Cross-species analysis via the UK Biobank confirms this hypervascular signature aligns with vascular dementia risk rather than Alzheimers disease. C_LIO_LIPharmacological stabilization: Demonstrated that Tie2 signaling activation (AKB-9778) improves the vessel organization, BBB integrity, and memory performance. C_LI

neuroscience↗

LipiGo: A Versatile DNA-Lipid Nanoparticle Hybrid for Precision Drug Delivery

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are established carriers for nucleic acid delivery, however, achieving efficient delivery to non-hepatic tissues remains a major challenge. Here, we present LipiGo, a nanocarrier platform engineered by integrating short single stranded DNA molecules into the lipid nanoparticle structure. Using whole body tissue clearing, advanced imaging and AI-based analysis, we show that LipiGo redirects functional mRNA delivery to lymphoid organs, particularly the spleen. Immune cell profiling further reveals enhanced uptake within key immune populations, including antigen-presenting cells, compared to standard LNPs. Beyond passive redistribution, LipiGo leverages DNA hybridization to enable modular attachment of targeting ligands for active targeting as demonstrated by cell-specific delivery to white adipocytes. Overall, the dual-purpose design principle of LipiGo demonstrates high modularity and efficiency, enabling tissue and cell specific delivery beyond hepatic applications. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=100 SRC="FIGDIR/small/676334v2_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (45K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@9b69eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1b45bd0org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f7b79dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@37a673_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

bioengineering↗

Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits and their native interactions with insecticidal peptide toxins

Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that represent a target for insecticides. Peptide neurotoxins are known to block nAChRs by binding to their target subunits, however, a better understanding of receptor subunit composition is needed for effective design of insecticides. To facilitate the analysis of nAChRs we used a CRISPR/Cas9 strategy to generate null alleles for all ten nAChR subunit genes in a common genetic background. We studied interactions of nAChR subunits with peptide neurotoxins by larval injections and styrene maleic acid lipid particles (SMALPs) pull-down assays. For the null alleles we determined the effects of -Bungarotoxin (-Btx) and {omega}-Hexatoxin-Hv1a (Hv1a) administration, identifying potential receptor subunits implicated in the binding of these toxins. We employed pull-down assays to confirm -Btx interactions with the D5, D6, D7 subunits. Finally, we report the localization of fluorescent tagged endogenous D6 during nervous system development. Taken together this study elucidates native Drosophila nAChR subunit interactions with insecticidal peptide toxins and provides a resource for the in vivo analysis of insect nAChRs.

neuroscience↗

Biotinylation by proximity labelling favours unfolded proteins

Folded enzymes are essential for life, but there is limited in vivo information about how locally unfolded protein regions contribute to biological functions. Intrinsically Disordered Regions (IDRs) are enriched in disease-linked and multiply post-translationally modified proteins. The extent of foldability of predicted IDRs is difficult to measure due to significant technical challenges to survey in vivo protein conformations on a proteome-wide scale. We reasoned that IDRs should be more accessible to targeted in vivo biotinylation than more ordered protein regions, if they retain their flexibility in vivo. Indeed, we observed a positive correlation of predicted IDRs and biotinylation density across four independent large-scale proximity proteomics studies that together report >20 000 biotinylation sites. We show that biotin painting is a promising approach to fill gaps in knowledge between static in vitro protein structures, in silico disorder predictions and in vivo condition-dependent subcellular plasticity using the 80S ribosome as an example.

cell biology↗