Hypoxia treatment reverses neurodegenerative disease in a mouse model of Leigh syndrome

Journal Article · Mon May 08 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1621511114· OSTI ID:1355951

Ferrari, Michele ^[1]; Jain, Isha H. ^[2]; Goldberger, Olga ^[2]; Rezoagli, Emanuele ^[1]; Thoonen, Robrecht ^[3]; Cheng, Kai-Hung ^[4]; Sosnovik, David E. ^[5]; Scherrer-Crosbie, Marielle ^[4]; Mootha, Vamsi K. ^[2]; Zapol, Warren M. ^[1]

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1. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,
2. Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114,, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142,
3. Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,
4. Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,, Cardiac Ultrasound Laboratory, Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,
5. Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114,, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129

The most common pediatric mitochondrial disease is Leigh syn-drome, an episodic, subacute neurodegeneration that can lead to death within the first few years of life, for which there are no proven general therapies. Mice lacking the complex I subunit, Ndufs4, develop a fatal progressive encephalopathy resembling Leigh syndrome and die at ≈60 d of age. We previously reported that contin-uously breathing normobaric 11% O₂ from an early age prevents neurological disease and dramatically improves survival in these mice. Here, we report three advances. First, we report updated sur-vival curves and organ pathology in Ndufs4 KO mice exposed to hypoxia or hyperoxia. Whereas normoxia-treated KO mice die from neurodegeneration at about 60 d, hypoxia-treated mice eventually die at about 270 d, likely from cardiac disease, and hyperoxia-treated mice die within days from acute pulmonary edema. Second, we report that more conservative hypoxia regimens, such as contin-uous normobaric 17% O₂ or intermittent hypoxia, are ineffective in preventing neuropathology. Finally, we show that breathing normobaric 11% O₂ in mice with late-stage encephalopathy re-verses their established neurological disease, evidenced by im-proved behavior, circulating disease biomarkers, and survival rates. Importantly, the pathognomonic MRI brain lesions and neurohistopathologic findings are reversed after 4 wk of hyp-oxia. Upon return to normoxia, Ndufs4 KO mice die within days. Future work is required to determine if hypoxia can be used to prevent and reverse neurodegeneration in other animal models, and to determine if it can be provided in a safe and practical manner to allow in-hospital human therapeutic trials.

• Research Organization: Krell Institute, Ames, IA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: FG02-97ER25308
• OSTI ID: 1355951
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1426066
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Vol. 114 Journal Issue: 21; ISSN 0027-8424
• Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES