Health sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Optogenetics can be used to induce an electrical response in cardiac cells and could become an alternative to electrical cardiac pacing. Here, Boyleet al.present a modelling framework for cardiac optogenetics and explore how optogenetic stimulation might be used to alter cardiac function.

    • Patrick M. Boyle
    • , John C. Williams
    •  & Natalia A. Trayanova

  • Article |

    Tissue engineering relies on the vascular compatibility of the synthesised constructs with target tissues. Here, the authors fabricate a prevascularised tissue construct of cell-laden hydrogel fibres as a framework that allows the formation of vascularised adipose and hepatic tissues.

    • Meng Fatt Leong
    • , Jerry K. C. Toh
    •  & Jackie Y. Ying

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Changes in autophagy have been shown to modulate lifespan in lower organisms. Here, Pyo et al.show that mice globally overexpressing the autophagy protein Atg5 live longer and are leaner than normal mice, providing the first evidence that increased autophagy extends lifespan in mammals.

    • Jong-Ok Pyo
    • , Seung-Min Yoo
    •  & Yong-Keun Jung

  • Article |

    Animal experiments to study the detrimental health effects of sugar usually involve far higher doses than those consumed by humans. Here, Ruff et al.show that house mice consuming comparatively low amounts of added sugar are impaired in their ability to compete for territories, reproduce and survive in a seminatural environment.

    • James S. Ruff
    • , Amanda K. Suchy
    •  & Wayne K. Potts

  • Article |

    Damaged mitochondria are removed from cells through a process called mitophagy. Here, Hoshino et al. show that the cytosolic fraction of the protein p53 inhibits mitophagy by sequestering the mitophagy regulator Parkin, leading to impaired mitochondrial integrity and cardiac function in aged or damaged mouse hearts.

    • Atsushi Hoshino
    • , Yuichiro Mita
    •  & Satoaki Matoba

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in the metalloproteinase Zmpste24 preclude prelamin A processing and cause premature ageing. Here, de la Rosaet al.create mosaic Zmpste24 mice, revealing that cell-extrinsic effects are essential for accelerated ageing caused by prelamin A accumulation and that prelamin A reduces invasiveness of cancer cells.

    • Jorge de la Rosa
    • , José M.P. Freije
    •  & Carlos López-Otín

  • Article |

    Endosomal sorting is regulated by phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate and anomalies in this process are implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Here the authors show that deficiency of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate in vitroenhances the pathological trafficking and processing of amyloid precursor protein.

    • Etienne Morel
    • , Zeina Chamoun
    •  & Gilbert Di Paolo

  • Article |

    The anti-diabetic drug metformin has been shown to increase lifespan of some model organisms, but results have been conflicting. Here, Martin-Montalvo et al. administer one of two doses of metformin to male mice and show that the lower dose increases healthspan and lifespan, while the higher dose is toxic.

    • Alejandro Martin-Montalvo
    • , Evi M. Mercken
    •  & Rafael de Cabo

  • Article |

    Reactivation of telomerase has been implicated in human tumorigenesis. Here, somatic mutations in the TERT promoter are reported in cancers of the central nervous system, bladder, follicular cell-derived thyroid and melanoma, thus demonstrating that TERTpromoter mutations are a frequent event in human cancer.

    • João Vinagre
    • , Ana Almeida
    •  & Paula Soares

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Surface area features of developing visual cortices are implicated in visual perception. Songet al.measure visual discrimination sensitivity in humans and find that an increase in visual cortical surface area activity is associated with improved discrimination sensitivity and degraded contextual illusions.

    • Chen Song
    • , Dietrich S. Schwarzkopf
    •  & Geraint Rees

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Implementing biomolecular recognition mechanisms in synthetic materials may enable a wealth of biomedical and related applications. Here Maitz et al. present a bio-responsive hydrogel that releases the anticoagulant heparin in amounts proportional to the environmental levels of the procoagulatory protein thrombin.

    • Manfred F. Maitz
    • , Uwe Freudenberg
    •  & Carsten Werner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Calorie restriction has been shown to extend lifespan in diverse model systems, however, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear. Zhang et al.show that calorie restriction changes the structure of the gut microbiota in mice, enriching for phylotypes positively correlated with lifespan.

    • Chenhong Zhang
    • , Shoufeng Li
    •  & Liping Zhao

  • Article |

    Energy demand in muscle is largely due to maintaining the membrane potential of muscle fibres. Jimenez et al.study the metabolic cost of maintaining the membrane potential of muscle fibres across different species of crustaceans and fishes, and find that larger fibres are metabolically cheaper to maintain.

    • Ana Gabriela Jimenez
    • , Richard M. Dillaman
    •  & Stephen T. Kinsey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum utilizes thiamine for the production of essential enzymatic cofactors. Chan et al. show that inhibition of thiamine utilization with oxythiamine inhibits proliferation of P. falciparumand reduces parasite growth in a mouse model of malaria infection.

    • Xie Wah Audrey Chan
    • , Carsten Wrenger
    •  & Kevin J. Saliba

  • Article |

    Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) regulates angiogenesis and FAK inhibitors are currently developed as anticancer drugs. Here Kostourou and colleagues show that genetic FAK heterozygosity or low doses of a pharmacological FAK inhibitor unexpectedly increase angiogenesis and tumour growth in vitro and in vivo.

    • Vassiliki Kostourou
    • , Tanguy Lechertier
    •  & Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke

  • Article |

    The scavenger receptor Scara1, expressed on microglia and macrophages, binds beta amyloid aggregates. In a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, the authors show that Scara1deficiency is associated with reduced clearance and increased deposition of aggregates in the brain, which results in early mortality.

    • Dan Frenkel
    • , Kim Wilkinson
    •  & Joseph El Khoury

  • Article |

    Rapid, highly multiplexed molecular detection platforms may enable more specific and effective disease diagnosis. Here, a solution-based circuit is reported that enables the analysis of samples for panels of pathogens and antibiotic-resistance profiles at clinically relevant levels in less than 2 min.

    • Brian Lam
    • , Jagotamoy Das
    •  & Shana O. Kelley

  • Article |

    Intestinal infection with adherent-invasive Escherichia coliis associated with Crohn’s disease in humans; however, its functional role remains unclear, in part due to a lack of animal models, which sustain chronic disease. Here the authors establish such a model in mice and show that it shares features with human Crohn’s disease.

    • Cherrie-Lee N. Small
    • , Sarah A. Reid-Yu
    •  & Brian K. Coombes

  • Article |

    Haplotypes in CNR1, the gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor CB1, are known to influence HDL cholesterol levels. Here Feng and colleagues identify rs806371 as a novel regulatory element reducing CNR1 gene expression and as the causal allele driving the association between CNR1 and HDL cholesterol levels in humans.

    • Q. Feng
    • , K.C. Vickers
    •  & R.A. Wilke

  • Article |

    Satellite cells have important roles in homeostasis and regeneration of skeletal muscles. Urciuolo et al. show that the extracellular matrix protein collagen VI is required for preserving satellite cell self-renewal and muscle regeneration in vitro and in vivoby modulating muscle mechanical properties.

    • Anna Urciuolo
    • , Marco Quarta
    •  & Paolo Bonaldo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The lateral hypothalamus is implicated in drug reward and addiction. Chen and colleagues find that in the lateral hypothalamus of mice, the proteoglycan syndecan-3 negatively regulates cocaine-seeking behaviour by modulating the effects of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor.

    • Jihuan Chen
    • , Vez Repunte-Canonigo
    •  & Pietro Paolo Sanna

  • Article |

    Influenza A viruses spread through contact, large and small respiratory droplets (aerosols), but the relative importance of these modes of transmission is unclear. Cowling et al. model data from community trials of face masks and hand hygiene and find that aerosol transmission accounts for half of influenza occurrences.

    • Benjamin J. Cowling
    • , Dennis K. M. Ip
    •  & James Mark Simmerman

  • Article |

    Kidney diseases often cause anaemia due to damage of renal erythropoietin-producing cells. Yamazaki et al. identify a new population of erythropoietin-producing cells in the renal cortex and outer medulla by establishing a mouse model for adult-onset erythropoietin-deficient anaemia.

    • Shun Yamazaki
    • , Tomokazu Souma
    •  & Masayuki Yamamoto

  • Article |

    Citrobacter rodentiumis an intestinal pathogen of mice widely used to model enteropathogenicE. coli infection in humans. Using a forward genetic approach, Papapietro and colleagues identify R-Spondin 2 expression and resulting Wnt signalling activation as a major regulator of C. rodentium-induced colitis.

    • Olivier Papapietro
    • , Sarah Teatero
    •  & Samantha Gruenheid

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pulmonary emphysema obstruct airflow in the lung and often develop in smokers. Here Su et al. show that prothymosin α contributes to emphysema development through alterations in the acetylation of histones and the transcription factor NF-κB, and that exposure to cigarette smoke increases prothymosin α expression.

    • Bing-Hua Su
    • , Yau-Lin Tseng
    •  & Chao-Liang Wu

  • Article |

    Dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis is a genetic condition in which the permeability of red blood cells to cations in increased. Albuisson and colleagues find that mutations in the mechanically-activated PIEZO1 ion channel are the major cause of the disease and result in more slowly inactivating currents.

    • Juliette Albuisson
    • , Swetha E Murthy
    •  & Ardem Patapoutian

  • Article |

    Nanoparticles released from living cells can be used as drug delivery vehicles, but scaling up their production is challenging. Here, Wang and colleagues create nanoparticles from natural lipids contained in grapefruit juice that can encapsulate various types of therapeutics and deliver them to cells in vitro and in vivo.

    • Qilong Wang
    • , Xiaoying Zhuang
    •  & Huang-Ge Zhang

  • Article |

    Prion protein accumulation in endosomal vesicles has been implicated in the progression of prion diseases. Uchiyama and colleagues infect neuronal cells with prion proteins and find that this delays post-Golgi vesicular trafficking of membrane proteins and impairs insulin signalling.

    • Keiji Uchiyama
    • , Naomi Muramatsu
    •  & Suehiro Sakaguchi

  • Article |

    The number of primordial follicles, which constitute the ovarian reserve, decreases with age. By overexpressing a constitutively active version of the transcription factor FOXO3, the authors increase the ovarian reserve and fertility in aging female mice.

    • Emanuele Pelosi
    • , Shakib Omari
    •  & Chris Ottolenghi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transmission-blocking interventions aim to interrupt progression of Plasmodium parasites from the vertebrate host to the mosquito. Blagborough et al. demonstrate that only partially reducing transmission can be sufficient to eliminate experimental Plasmodiuminfection in successive mosquito and mice populations when biting rates are low.

    • A. M. Blagborough
    • , T. S. Churcher
    •  & R. E. Sinden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The gut microbiota produces metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which can influence the development of obesity. Here Kimura et al.show that SCFAs act via the receptor GPR43, which acts as a sensor for excessive dietary energy and controls body energy utilization as well as metabolic homoeostasis.

    • Ikuo Kimura
    • , Kentaro Ozawa
    •  & Gozoh Tsujimoto

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