Anatomy articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adult beta cells, which are highly specialised insulin-secreting cells, rarely replicate. Puri et al. demonstrate that beta cell proliferative capacity is inversely correlated with their functionality and differentiation state, by inducing proliferation of adult cells with ectopic overexpression of the cell cycle regulator c-Myc.

    • Sapna Puri
    • , Nilotpal Roy
    •  & Matthias Hebrok

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Satellite cells can differentiate both into myocytes and brown adipocytes. Here, the authors show that the histone demethylase Lsd1 prevents adipogenic differentiation of satellite cells by repressing expression of Glis1, and that its ablation changes satellite cell fate towards brown adipocytes and delays muscle regeneration in mice.

    • Milica Tosic
    • , Anita Allen
    •  & Roland Schüle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Communication between osteoblasts and osteoclasts is essential for bone homeostasis, but the mode of interaction is unclear. The authors use intravital two-photon microscopy in mice to show that these cells directly interact, regulating activity of osteoclasts, and that the interaction is modulated by parathyroid hormone administration.

    • Masayuki Furuya
    • , Junichi Kikuta
    •  & Masaru Ishii

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The generation of functional skeletal muscle tissue from human pluripotent stem cells has not been reported. Here, the authors describe engineering of contractile skeletal muscle bundles in culture, which become vascularized and maintain functionality when transplanted into mice.

    • Lingjun Rao
    • , Ying Qian
    •  & Nenad Bursac

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are a main class of metabolites derived from fermentation of dietary fibre in the intestine. Here, the authors show that dietary administration of SCFA is associated with inhibition of osteoclast differentiation, increased bone mass, and reduced pathological bone loss in mice.

    • Sébastien Lucas
    • , Yasunori Omata
    •  & Mario M. Zaiss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a myopathy linked to ectopic expression of the DUX4 transcription factor. The authors show that the suppression of targets genes of the myogenesis regulator PAX7 is a signature of FSHD, and might explain oxidative stress sensitivity and epigenetic changes.

    • Christopher R. S. Banerji
    • , Maryna Panamarova
    •  & Peter S. Zammit

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drugs targeting myostatin reverse muscle wasting in animal models, but have limited efficacy in patients. The authors show that the myostatin pathway is downregulated in patients, possibly explaining the poor outcome of anti-myostatin approaches, and that it can be reactivated by correcting disease-causing mutations in mice.

    • Virginie Mariot
    • , Romain Joubert
    •  & Julie Dumonceaux

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Myoblast fusion is essential for skeletal muscle development and regeneration. Here the authors show that MyD88 is upregulated during myogenesis and during muscle growth, signals via the NF-κB and Wnt pathways, and that its expression modulates myoblast fusion and myofiber size in mice.

    • Sajedah M. Hindi
    • , Jonghyun Shin
    •  & Ashok Kumar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Osteoclasts are involved in arthritis, and their differentiation depends on RANKL signaling. The author show that the ROS-scavenging protein DJ-1 negatively regulates RANKL signaling and that its ablation increases osteoclast numbers and exacerbates bone damage in mouse models of arthritis.

    • Hyuk Soon Kim
    • , Seung Taek Nam
    •  & Wahn Soo Choi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mesenchymal stem cells are essential for bone development, but it is unclear if their activity is maintained after late puberty, when bone growth decelerates. The authors show that during late puberty in mice, these cells undergo senescence under the epigenetic control of Ezh2.

    • Changjun Li
    • , Yu Chai
    •  & Mei Wan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanisms underlying tissue fibrosis are unclear. The authors show that mesenchymal cells expressing PDGFRβ mediate fibrosis in skeletal muscle and heart via a mechanism involving αv integrin, and that inhibitors of αv integrins attenuate fibrotic responses in mice.

    • I. R. Murray
    • , Z. N. Gonzalez
    •  & N. C. Henderson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Strategies aimed at promoting muscle regeneration to treat muscular dystrophy have met with limited success. Here the authors show instead that delaying muscle regeneration, by ablation of the transcription factor Nfix, ameliorates muscular dystrophy in mice.

    • Giuliana Rossi
    • , Chiara Bonfanti
    •  & Graziella Messina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exon skipping is a strategy for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but has variable efficacy. Here, the authors show that dystrophin restoration occurs preferentially in areas of myofiber regeneration, where antisense oligonucleotides are stored in macrophages and delivered to myoblasts and newly formed myotubes

    • James S. Novak
    • , Marshall W. Hogarth
    •  & Terence A. Partridge

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Satellite cells are crucial for growth and regeneration of skeletal muscle. Here the authors show that in response to muscle injury, macrophages secrete Adamts1, which induces satellite cell activation by modulating Notch1 signaling.

    • Hongqing Du
    • , Chung-Hsuan Shih
    •  & Brian J. Feldman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cholinergic neurons innervate multiple layers in the main olfactory bulb but the precise circuitry of this input is not known. Here the authors show that VGLUT3+ cholinergic neurons selectively innervate deep short axon cells in specific layers and elicit robust monosynaptic GABAergic and nicotinic postsynaptic currents.

    • Daniel T. Case
    • , Shawn D. Burton
    •  & Rebecca P. Seal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a severe myopathy that is caused by abnormal activation of DUX4, and for which a suitable mouse model does not exist. Here, the authors generate a novel mouse model with titratable expression of DUX4, and show that it recapitulates several features of the human pathology.

    • Darko Bosnakovski
    • , Sunny S. K. Chan
    •  & Michael Kyba

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In mammalian skeletal muscle, the DHPR functions as a voltage sensor to trigger muscle contraction and as a Ca2+ channel. Here the authors show that mice where Ca2+ influx through the DHPR is eliminated display no difference in skeletal muscle function, suggesting that the Ca2+ influx through this channel is vestigial.

    • Anamika Dayal
    • , Kai Schrötter
    •  & Manfred Grabner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our incomplete understanding of how pancreatic beta cells form limits the generation of beta-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC). Here, the authors identify a ROCKII inhibitor H1152 as increasing insulin secreting cells from hPSCs and improving beta-cell maturation on transplantation in vivo.

    • Zaniar Ghazizadeh
    • , Der-I Kao
    •  & Shuibing Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adipose tissue contains macrophages that can influence both local and systemic metabolism via the secretion of cytokines. Here, Nawaz et al. report that M2-like macrophages, present in adipose tissue, create a microenvironment that inhibits proliferation of adipocyte progenitors due to the secretion of TGF-β1

    • Allah Nawaz
    • , Aminuddin Aminuddin
    •  & Kazuyuki Tobe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a progressive degenerative disease of muscles caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Here the authors use AAV vectors to deliver microdystrophin to dogs with muscular dystrophy, and show restoration of dystrophin expression and reduction of symptoms up to 26 months of age.

    • Caroline Le Guiner
    • , Laurent Servais
    •  & George Dickson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deregulation of mTORC1 pathway has been associated with several human diseases including diabetes, neurodegeneration and cancer. Here Blandino-Rosanoet al. show that mTORC1 signalling controls insulin secretion and β-cell maintenance by regulation of β-cell proliferation, apoptosis and autophagy and insulin processing.

    • Manuel Blandino-Rosano
    • , Rebecca Barbaresso
    •  & Ernesto Bernal-Mizrachi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human liver chimeric mice are increasingly used for drug testing in preclinical development, but express residual murine p450 cytochromes. Here the authors generate mice lacking the Por gene in the liver, and show that human cytochrome metabolism is used following repopulation with human hepatocytes.

    • Mercedes Barzi
    • , Francis P. Pankowicz
    •  & Karl-Dimiter Bissig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disorder characterized by insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion. Here Axelssonet al. show that Sox5, which is reduced in diabetes, regulates a set of differentially expressed genes in T2D and its genetic and pharmacological induction improves insulin secretion by diabetic islets.

    • A. S. Axelsson
    • , T. Mahdi
    •  & A. H. Rosengren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bone loss is common in patients with diabetes, but the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms are unclear. Here the authors show high succinate levels in mice with type 2 diabetes and that succinate can signal through succinate receptor 1 on osteoclasts to induce bone resorption.

    • Yuqi Guo
    • , Chengzhi Xie
    •  & Xin Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Skeletal muscle atrophy can occur in response to stimuli such as inactivity, fasting, and ageing. Here the authors show that expression of microRNA-29b promotes muscle atrophy by targeting IGF-1 and PI3K, and that its inhibition attenuates atrophy induced by denervation and immobilization in mice.

    • Jin Li
    • , Mun Chun Chan
    •  & Junjie Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inhibition of GDF8 increases muscle mass in mice, but is less effective in monkeys and humans. Here the authors show that activin A also inhibits muscle hypertrophy and that concomitant inhibition of activin A and GDF8 synergistically increases muscle mass in mice and non-human primates.

    • Esther Latres
    • , Jason Mastaitis
    •  & Jesper Gromada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long non-coding mRNAs play important roles in muscle development and regeneration. Here the authors identify a long non-coding mRNA that promotes myogenesis by sequestering miR-125b, leading to increased expression of insulin-like growth factor 2.

    • Mu Zhu
    • , Jiafan Liu
    •  & Xiaogang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Osteoclasts are bone resorptive cells and an attractive target to treat diseases characterized by excessive bone loss, but little is known about osteoclast inhibition. Here the authors identify Gα13 as an intracellular inhibitor of osteoclastogenesis that can prevent bone loss in mice via Akt activation and inhibition of RhoA signalling.

    • Mengrui Wu
    • , Wei Chen
    •  & Yi-Ping Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In vivo imaging of inflammation is crucial for detection and monitoring of many pathologies and noninvasive macrophage quantification has been suggested as a possible approach. Here Keliher et al. describe novel polyglucose nanoparticle tracers that are rapidly excreted by the kidney and with high affinity for macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques.

    • Edmund J. Keliher
    • , Yu-Xiang Ye
    •  & Matthias Nahrendorf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The peptide hormone hepcidin is released from hepatocytes and regulates iron homoeostasis. Here, the authors show that hepcidin also regulates the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in mouse models of liver fibrosis by reducing ferroportin expression and inhibiting the HSC response to TGFβ.

    • Chang Yeob Han
    • , Ja Hyun Koo
    •  & Sang Geon Kim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diabetes is characterized by prolonged hyperglycaemia and tissue damage in pancreatic islets. Here, Brereton et al. show that chronic high glucose levels lead to glycogen accumulation in β-cells, associated with reduced autophagy, impaired metabolism, insulin granule depletion and apoptosis.

    • Melissa F. Brereton
    • , Maria Rohm
    •  & Frances M. Ashcroft

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rela is a transcription factor shown to have seemingly contradictory roles in anabolism and catabolism of cartilage. Here the authors find that Rela prevents chondrocyte apoptosis and that homozygous knockout causes accelerated osteoarthritis in adults, whereas heterozygous knockout suppresses osteoarthritis by maintaining wild-type effects on apoptosis but inhibiting catabolic gene expression.

    • Hiroshi Kobayashi
    • , Song Ho Chang
    •  & Taku Saito

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diabetes is associated with the de-differentiation of β-cells into a more progenitor-like cell type. Here, the authors identify Aldh3 as a marker of de-differentiating β-cell in animal models of diabetes, and show Aldh3+cells have impaired insulin secretion and mitochondrial dysfunction.

    • Ja Young Kim-Muller
    • , Jason Fan
    •  & Domenico Accili

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Nanos family protein, NANOS2, is required for sexual differentiation of male germ cells in mice, however, the molecular RNA targets are unknown. Here, Kato et al. identify Dazl, a germ cell-specific gene, as being a target of NANOS, with stabilized DazlmRNA causing abnormal resumption of the cell cycle.

    • Yuzuru Kato
    • , Takeo Katsuki
    •  & Yumiko Saga

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