Fan Jun, Zhong Qiu-Ling, Mo Ran, Lu Cheng-Lin, Ren Jing, Mo Jia-Wen, Guo Fang, Wen You-Lu, Cao Xiong
Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Key Laboratory of Mental Health of the Ministry of Education, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2021 Nov 2;14:729975. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2021.729975. eCollection 2021.
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key part of the brain networks that are closely related to the regulation of behavior, acts as a key regulator in emotion, social cognition, and decision making. Astrocytes are the majority cell type of glial cells, which play a significant role in a number of processes and establish a suitable environment for the functioning of neurons, including the brain energy metabolism. Astrocyte's dysfunction in the mPFC has been implicated in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Glucose is a major energy source in the brain. In glucose metabolism, part of glucose is used to convert UDP-GlcNAc as a donor molecule for O-GlcNAcylation, which is controlled by a group of enzymes, O-GlcNAc transferase enzyme (OGT), and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). However, the role of O-GlcNAcylation in astrocytes is almost completely unknown. Our research showed that astrocytic OGT could influence the expression of proteins in the mPFC. Most of these altered proteins participate in metabolic processes, transferase activity, and biosynthetic processes. GFAP, an astrocyte maker, was increased after OGT deletion. These results provide a framework for further study on the role of astrocytic OGT/O-GlcNAcylation in the mPFC.
内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）是与行为调节密切相关的脑网络的关键部分，在情绪、社会认知和决策中起关键调节作用。星形胶质细胞是神经胶质细胞的主要细胞类型，在许多过程中发挥重要作用，并为神经元的功能建立适宜的环境，包括脑能量代谢。mPFC中星形胶质细胞功能障碍与多种神经精神疾病有关。葡萄糖是大脑中的主要能量来源。在葡萄糖代谢中，部分葡萄糖用于将UDP-GlcNAc转化为用于O-GlcNAc糖基化的供体分子，这由一组酶，即O-GlcNAc转移酶（OGT）和O-GlcNAcase（OGA）控制。然而，O-GlcNAc糖基化在星形胶质细胞中的作用几乎完全未知。我们的研究表明，星形胶质细胞的OGT可影响mPFC中蛋白质的表达。这些改变的蛋白质大多参与代谢过程、转移酶活性和生物合成过程。GFAP是一种星形胶质细胞标志物，在OGT缺失后增加。这些结果为进一步研究星形胶质细胞OGT/O-GlcNAc糖基化在mPFC中的作用提供了框架。
