Introduction
Destabilization of axon terminals and axon degeneration are key pathological features in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most common forms of motoneuron disease [
6,
33,
62,
68]. Despite progress in the identification of underlying gene defects [
41,
58,
60], the cellular mechanisms that are responsible for loss of motor function, degeneration of neuromuscular endplates, destabilization of axons and finally death of motoneuron cell bodies are not fully understood [
20]. SMA and ALS are considered both clinically and genetically as distinct disorders. However, they share common features. On the clinical side, dysfunction and degeneration of neuromuscular endplates appears as an early symptom in both disorders, and alterations of the axonal cytoskeleton are characteristic at early stages of both diseases [
16,
29,
35]. Accumulation of spheroids in proximal axons is commonly observed in ALS, and these spheroids primarily contain neurofilaments [
13,
23,
52]. In a mouse model of SMA, the density of intermediate filaments in proximal and distal axons is highly increased [
9], similar as in tg(SOD1*G93A) mutant mice [
75], a model for a common form of familial ALS. This increased density of neurofilaments coincides with lack of axonal sprouting and increased dynamics and instability of axonal microtubules [
19,
22,
37,
38], indicating that the increased density of intermediate filaments and destabilization of microtubules are functionally connected.
Neurofilaments modulate microtubule stability and thus axon caliber and microtubule functions in axonal transport [
49]. NFL is required for the assembly of neurofilaments, as NFM and NFH cannot form intermediate filaments in the absence of NFL [
17,
18]. Abnormal accumulation of neurofilaments causes neuronal degeneration by disrupting axonal transport of cargos required for the maintenance of axon terminals [
10]. Depletion of axonal neurofilaments in
Nefl−
/− and tg(
Prph);
Nefl−
/− neurons leads to improved axonal transport of mitochondria and lysosomes [
56]. It also increases life span in tg(SOD1*G85R) mutant mice [
79] and attenuates the neurodegenerative disease phenotype in tau T44 transgenic mice [
28]. However, the precise molecular mechanisms how neurofilament depletion stabilizes microtubules, improves axonal transport and prevents axon degeneration have remained unclear.
Here we show that NFL depletion in
pmn mutant mice [
7,
46,
66] increases microtubule stability and delays axon degeneration. Disruption of the
Nefl gene in
pmn mutant mice increases microtubule numbers in motor axons, and ameliorates the disease phenotype. This effect appears to be caused by interaction of NFL with a protein complex including stathmin and signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (Stat3). Interaction of Stat3 and stathmin is increased upon NFL depletion. Enhanced Stat3–stathmin interaction inhibits stathmin action in destabilizing microtubules and increases levels of soluble tubulin heterodimers making them available for the maintenance of axonal microtubules in motoneurons. This effect could explain why neurofilament depletion delays disease onset and prolongs survival in
pmn mutant mice, and also how increased neurofilament levels lead to axonal destabilization in a wide variety of neurodegenerative disorders.
Materials and methods
Description of mouse lines used in this study
Heterozygous
pmn mutant mice originally maintained on Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) [
64] genetic background were crossed with heterozygous
Nefl knockout mice on a C57BL/6 genetic background [
83] to produce double heterozygous
Nefl+/−;
pmn+/− mice. These mice were then backcrossed with NMRI genetic background for at least four generations to obtain a uniform NMRI genetic background. Subsequently, the heterozygous
Nefl+/−;
pmn+/− were intercrossed to obtain the mice investigated in this work. NMRI genetic background was preferred over C57BL/6 to obtain bigger litter sizes under a situation when two autosomal recessive traits (
pmn and
Nefl) had to be crossed to obtain the desired genotypes.
Nefl knockout and corresponding control wild-type mice on a C57BL/6 genetic background were used for the immunoprecipitation experiments. All experimental procedures were approved by animal care and ethic committee of the University of Wuerzburg, the Veterinäramt of the City of Wuerzburg and the Regierung von Unterfranken, and were performed according to the guidelines of the European Union. All mice were maintained under a 12-h light/dark cycle with food and water ad libitum.
Antibodies
Antibodies against neurofilament-light chain Ab9035 (Western blot), and NFL mouse monoclonal, Cat# MCA-DA2 (immunostaining), tyrosinated α-tubulin (clone YL1/2; ab6160) and stathmin-1 (clone EP1573Y; ab52630) were obtained from Abcam. The specificity of these antibodies and in particular the stathmin antibody has been tested in previous studies [
5,
66]. After stathmin-1 knockout [
5] or lentiviral knockdown [
66] the corresponding Stathmin-1 band was completely abolished in Western blots. Neurofilament-heavy chain antibody (AB5539) was obtained from Millipore, eIF2α (D7D3), p-STAT3
Y705 (D3A7), and Stat3 (124H6) (9139S) antibodies from Cell Signaling Technology. γ-tubulin (clone GTU-88), tau (T-6402), acetylated-α-tubulin (clone 6-11b-1; T7451) and α-tubulin (clone B-5-1-2; T5168) antibodies were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. The Stathmin 2 (SCG10) antibody was a kind gift from the lab of Dr. Gabriele Grenningloh, EPFL [
15].
Survival of the mice
To compare survival of pmn mice lacking NFL, mice heterozygous for Nefl+/−; pmn+/− were intercrossed, and survival of mutant mice of either sex with different genotypes was compared. Nefl+/+;pmn mice were used as a control for comparison with Nefl+/−;pmn and Nefl−/−;pmn to analyze survival with Kaplan–Meier curves. The median survival for the mice was compared using log rank test. Mice analyzed for survival were not used for the behavior tests.
Functional analysis of mice with rotarod and grip strength tests
Motor coordination and motor performance of the mutant mice were tested using a rotarod (Accelerating Rotarod, Ugo Basile) by recording the latency (time from beginning of the trial until the mouse falls off) to fall off the rotating rod. Six mice from each genotype,
Nefl+
/+;
pmn,
Nefl+/−;
pmn and
Nefl−
/−;
pmn were tested at a presymptomatic stage of postnatal day 21 and on three consecutive days when the mice showed signs of disease at the age of 27, 28 and 29 days both on a constant speed (8 rpm, 10 min maximum per test) and an accelerating speed rotarod (linear acceleration from 4 to 40 rpm within 2 min). The latency to fall off the rotating rod (in seconds) was recorded for each mouse for three trials spaced by 10 min each. The average latency for all the 9 trials for each mouse for three consecutive days (27–29) was plotted and used for further analysis. Forelimb grip strength of mice was tested using an automatic grip strength meter (Chatillon, Columbus Instruments) [
47]. Mice were allowed to grasp a horizontal metal grid and pulled by their tail until the grip was released. The peak pull-force (in Newton) was recorded on the digital display. This test was performed for 6 trials per day at day 21 when disease was not apparent and for three consecutive days (age of 27, 28 and 29 days) when the mice showed signs of disease. Average grip strength from day 21 and 3 days at disease stages is plotted. The behavior tests were performed during the light cycle. All tests were performed on each mouse with a time gap of at least 1 h.
Primary motoneuron culture
Lumbar spinal cord was dissected from embryonic day 13.5 mice as described [
78]. Isolated spinal cord from each embryo was cleaned and trypsinized at 37 °C for 15 min in HBSS, containing trypsin at a final concentration of 0.1 %. Trypsinization reaction was stopped by adding trypsin inhibitor (Sigma-Aldrich; T9128) to a final concentration of 0.1 % and digested tissues were gently triturated to obtain single cells. Panning plates were prepared by coating 24-well Nunclon™ surface dishes with antibody against p75
NTR, clone MLR2 (a gift from R. Rush, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; [
61] and also commercially available through Biosensis (M-009-100) and Abcam (ab61425)), diluted to a final concentration of 5 ng/ml. Cells were transferred to panning dishes for 45 min where motoneurons expressing p75
NTR receptor attach to the antibody coated surface of the dish. Enriched motoneurons were then plated on polyornithine and laminin-111 (catalog no. 23017–015, lot no. 1347084; Invitrogen) coated glass coverslips (Marienfeld) or dishes. These cells were cultured at 37 °C temperature, 5 % CO
2 in neurobasal medium (Invitrogen) containing 500 μM GlutaMAX (Invitrogen), 2 % horse serum (Linaris), 2 % B-27 supplement (Invitrogen), and the neurotrophic factor BDNF (5 ng/ml). Culture medium was changed on day 1, 3 and 5 after plating. 2000 cells were plated per 10 mm coverslip for measurements of axon length, 2000 cells per dish were plated for electron microscopic analyses and 5000 cells per 25 mm coverslip were plated for SIM.
Electron microscopy of primary motoneurons
Motoneurons were cultured on special Falcon dishes (BD Falcon™-Dish 35 × 10 mm non-TC Petri EZGrip 500cas—BD Biosciences) for 7 days following the motoneuron culture protocol as described above. These motoneurons were fixed with 2.5 % glutaraldehyde and 0.8 % tannic acid in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer pH 7.5 (CB), for 5 min at 37 °C followed by 90 min at room temperature. Neurons were then washed three times with CB and treated with 1 % OsO
4 in CB for 1 h. Cells were subjected to dehydration in 30, 50 % ethanol for 5 min each, followed by 30 min 0.5 % uranyl acetate in 70 % ethanol, followed by 90, 96, 100 % ethanol for 5 min each, and were finally embedded in a thin sheet of Epon (Serva, Heidelberg, Germany) resin. After polymerization, the resin sheets were stained with methylene blue for light microscopic identification of motoneurons. Resin pieces containing identified motoneurons were mounted on empty Epon blocks, ultrathin sections of ca. 80 nm were prepared, transferred to Formvar-coated nickel grids and contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate [
59]. Electron micrographs were obtained with a transmission electron microscope (LEO 912 AB; Carl Zeiss). Intermediate filaments have a diameter of 11.29 ± 0.46 nm. For measuring the IF density, 12 parallel lines at a distance of 173 nm, perpendicular to the long axis of the axon were drawn on the micrograph and the number of intermediate filaments intersecting each line was counted [
12]; for proximal axons (within 50 μm distance to the cell body), distal axons (less than 100 μm distance to the axon tip), and intermediate parts (in-between these two regions). Width of the axon was measured for each line and IF density was calculated by dividing the mean number of IF intersection by mean axon width.
Electron microscopy of phrenic nerves
Mice were killed by excessive CO2 exposure and transcardially perfused with a mixture of 4 % paraformaldehyde (PFA) and 2 % glutaraldehyde in CB. Distal phrenic nerves were collected and postfixed in the same fixative overnight at 4 °C. On the next day, nerves were washed with CB and treated with 2 % OsO4 in CB for 2 h, dehydrated in an ascending concentration of ethanol and embedded in Epon. Transverse ultrathin sections of the nerve were transferred to Formvar-coated nickel grids and contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate. Electron micrographs were obtained with a transmission electron microscope (LEO 912 AB; Carl Zeiss). At least 3 mice from each genotype were used and microtubules were counted in transverse sections of axons from each mouse. Area of the axon was calculated using the ImageJ software (NIH).
Immunocytochemistry and light microscopic analysis
Motoneurons cultured for 3 or 7 days were fixed with 4 % PFA (freshly prepared) for 20 min at room temperature. PFA was washed out with PBS by 3 washes for 5 min each. Fixed neurons were treated with blocking solution (0.3 % Triton X-100, 0.1 % Tween-20, 10 % horse serum in PBS) for 30 min. Primary antibodies diluted in blocking solution were added onto the neurons and incubated overnight at 4 °C. On the following day, neurons were washed three times with washing solution (0.1 % Triton X-100, 0.1 % Tween-20 in PBS), 10 min each wash and incubated for 1 h with the corresponding fluorescently labeled secondary antibodies at room temperature. Cells were washed with washing solution three times for 10 min each wash and mounted on object glass slides using aqua-polymount (Polysciences) and imaged under a confocal microscope (SP2; Leica) using a HC PL-APO 20×/0.70 objective. Axon length was measured using LAS AF software (Leica) by observers who were blind with respect to the genotype.
Structured illumination microscopy
For structured illumination microscopy (SIM) analysis, motoneurons were cultured for 3 days and fixed with the above described protocols. Neurons were labeled by indirect immunofluorescence using secondary antibodies labeled with Alexa Fluor 488, Cy3 and Cy5. Specimens were imaged using a SIM Zeiss ELYRA S.1 microscope system with a 63×/1.40 oil immersion objective in x–y–z stacks. Raw images (16 bit) were processed to reconstruct high-resolution information using the provided commercial software package (Zeiss). Three-color images were aligned using a transformation matrix and were later processed with ImageJ. Shown are maximum-intensity projections of 5 z-stacks.
Western blot analysis
Sciatic nerves from 34-day-old mice were isolated and lysed with a glass–glass homogenizer in RIPA buffer (50 mM Tris pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1 % Triton X-100, 0.1 % SDS, 2 mM EDTA, protease inhibitor, 0.5 % sodium deoxycholate, 1 mM NaF, 10 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 µM okadaic acid and 2 mM sodium orthovanadate). Concentration of protein was calculated using bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA assay) and lysate was boiled in Laemmli buffer for 10 min at 99 °C. Equal amount of protein from different samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. After incubation with the desired antibodies, membranes were developed using ECL or ECL advance (GE Healthcare). Obtained blots were scanned and band intensities were quantified by densitometry analysis with ImageJ (NIH).
Immunoprecipitation
Sciatic nerves or NSC34 cells were lysed in IP buffer (50 mM Tris pH 7.4, 150 mM NaCl, 1 % Triton X-100, 2 mM EDTA, Protease inhibitor, 1 mM NaF, 10 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 µM okadaic acid, 2 mM sodium orthovanadate) using a glass–glass homogenizer (only for sciatic nerves lysis) and at least 200 µg of protein lysate was incubated with 5 µl anti-stathmin (rabbit) antibody, overnight at 4 °C on a rotating wheel. The protein-antibody mix was incubated with pre-equilibrated Protein A-agarose beads (Roche) for 1 h at 4 °C on a rotating wheel. Protein coupled beads were pelleted by centrifugation at 500 rpm for 3 min at 4 °C and supernatant was stored at −20 °C. Beads were washed three times with IP buffer and proteins were eluted by boiling the beads with 2X Laemmli buffer at 99 °C for 10 min. Eluted proteins were loaded on a SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting was done for stathmin, Stat3 and anti-NFL. The vector used for overexpression of NFL under a pRc/CMV promoter was supplied from Dr. JP Julien.
Microtubule-regrowth assay
An established MT regrowth assay [
1] with following modifications was used to study the MT regrowth in cultured motoneurons. 6000 cells were plated on polyornithine-laminin coated 12 mm coverslips and incubated at 37 °C for 1 h. Cells were then provided with full medium (2 % horse serum, 1X B-27 and 5 ng BDNF) containing 10 µM nocodazole to depolymerize the microtubule network. After 6 h of depolymerization, cells were washed 5 times with warm neurobasal (NB) medium and incubated at 37 °C for 5 min with 500 µl of warm NB to investigate the regrowth of microtubules. These cells were then washed with MT stabilizing buffer PHEM (60 mM Pipes, 25 mM Hepes, 10 mM EGTA, and 2 mM MgCl
2) and MTs were extracted by adding PHEM with 0.5 % Triton X-100 and 10 µM paclitaxel for 3 min at 37 °C. Cells were rinsed with PHEM and fixed in 4 % PFA + PHEM (1:1). These motoneurons were then stained for α-tubulin to label polymerized MT and γ-tubulin to label the microtubule organizing center (MTOC). Images were taken at a SP5 confocal microscope (Leica, Bensheim, Germany) with a 63X oil objective, 4X magnification and 1.35 NA Image J was used to quantify the regrowth of microtubules. After background subtraction of radius 50, similar threshold was set for all the images and Sholl analysis was performed to quantify the number of microtubule intersections at a step size of 1 µm. Total length of MT for each cell was determined by multiplying the number of intersections at each step by its distance from the MTOC, starting from the periphery to the center. Mean length was calculated by summing up the length of MTs obtained and divided by the total number of MTs measured: Σ ((
nx −
(nx + 1)) × ∆MTOCx)/
N, where
n is the number of intersections,
x is the circle of interest,
x + 1 is the next outer circle, ∆MTOCx is the distance from MTOC to the circle of interest, and
N is the total number of MTs.
Reverse transcription, primer selection and qPCR
RNA from sciatic nerves of 1-month-old mice was isolated using the trizol RNA isolation method. cDNA was prepared and qPCRs performed with a Lightcycler 1.5 (Roche) with FastStart DNA master SYBR green1 reagents, using kinetic PCR cycles. Efficiency-controlled relative expression levels were calculated. Intron-spanning primers were selected with Oligo 6.0 software (MedProbe) and PCR conditions were optimized. Reactions were performed in glass capillaries in a volume of 20 µl. PCR products were analyzed by melting curve analysis. Primers and PCR targets: expression of housekeeping genes 5.8sRNA fw: 5′-GCGCTAGCTGCGAGAATTAATGTG-3′; rev-5′-CAAGTGCGTTCGAAGTGTCGATGA-3′ and mHPRT1 (NM_013556) fw: 5′-TTATGCCGAGGATTTGGAA-3′; rev-5′-ACAGAGGGCCACAATGTGAT-3′; 118 bp, intron-spanning, were used for the relative quantification. mNefl (NM_010910) fw: 5′-CTAAGACCCTGGAGATCGAAGCC-3′; rev-5′-GCTCTTCGTGCTTCTCAGCTCATT-3′; 149 bp, intron spanning. mStmn1 (NM_019641) fw: 5′-GCGCTTGCGAGAGAAGGACA-3′; rev-5′-CTCGGGACAACTTAGTCAGCCTCA-3′; 99 bp, intron spanning.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analyses were performed using the GraphPad Prism 4.02 software (GraphPad, San Diego, CA, USA). A log rank test was used to test for the significance of differences in survival of mice as shown in the Kaplan–Meier curves in Fig.
2a. Parametric tests were used for normally distributed data and non-parametric tests for data which were not normally distributed. All tests were two-tailed unless otherwise mentioned. All data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Final processing of all images was performed with ImageJ (Rasband, WS, ImageJ, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA,
http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/, 1997–2015), [
65] and Photoshop CS5 (Adobe). Brightness and contrast were enhanced for better visualization.
Discussion
In this study, we observed that NFL protein levels are at least twofold increased in pmn mutant motoneurons and that NFL depletion rescues defective axon growth in cultured motoneurons and prolongs survival of pmn mutant mice. This effect was found both in Nefl+/−;pmn motoneurons in which elevated NF expression was brought back to wild-type control levels and in Nefl−/−;pmn motoneurons in which axonal neurofilament was completely lost. In cultured pmn mutant motoneurons, NFL depletion also resulted in increased axon elongation and increased levels of acetylated tubulin, a marker for stable microtubules. Thus, NFL depletion modulates microtubule dynamics in a similar manner as observed after Stat3 activation. This effect was apparently due to increased phosphorylation of Stat3 and enhanced interaction of Stat3 with stathmin when NFL levels were reduced, resulting in enhanced stability of microtubules.
Accumulation of neurofilaments has been observed in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and in corresponding mouse models [
36,
42,
44]. Thus neurofilament pathology represents a point where pathomechanisms of distinct neurodegenerative disorders converge [
40]. However, the reasons why NFL is upregulated in degenerating neurons and the precise mechanism how NFL accumulation participates in these neurodegenerative mechanisms are not fully understood so far. Several lines of evidence indicate that defective axonal transport leads to enhanced phosphorylation and accumulation of neurofilaments in axons [
55]. The upregulation could also be a consequence of altered post-transcriptional control [
73], or a consequence of defective intermediate filament degradation. The possibility of increased protein synthesis has been ruled out in degenerating neurons of ALS and Alzheimer disease patients in which
NEFL mRNA levels are downregulated [
3,
48,
71,
72,
81], whereas the transcript levels for
NEFM or
NEFH usually remain unchanged [
81]. This indicates that both altered axonal transport, posttranscriptional mechanisms including deregulated translation or posttranslational mechanisms such as reduced degradation of NFL [
60] could be responsible for the phenotype. Gigaxonin plays an essential role in the degradation of IFs [
54] and the accumulated pool of IF in giant axonal neuropathy is lost upon Gigaxonin restoration in patient iPSC derived motoneurons [
31], indicating that defective degradation could play a central role in this and other forms of neurodegenerative disorders.
Mouse models of motoneuron disease and other neurodegenerative disorders have provided support for the hypothesis that accumulation of NFL could be an early event in neurodegeneration. Overexpression of NFL, NFM or NFH transgenes causes NF aggregation and motoneuron dysfunction resembling motoneuron disease in mouse models [
11,
21,
34,
82]. In mutant SOD1 mice,
Nefl deletion delayed the onset of disease and slowed the disease progression [
79], and in tau transgenic mouse it reduces the abnormal tau accumulation and motoneurons degeneration [
28]. In
pmn mutant mice, deletion of only one
Nefl allele normalized NFL and NFH protein levels in sciatic nerves. Under these conditions, the motor function in
pmn mutant mice was improved, thus providing evidence that the elevation of endogenous neurofilament levels contributes to axon destabilization and loss of motor function. Despite the drastic reduction of IFs and the resultant reduction in axon diameter in peripheral nerves,
Nefl−
/−;
pmn mutant mice survived longer than
Nefl+/−;
pmn or
pmn mutant mice. Thus, loss of IFs delays axon destabilization in
pmn mutant mice.
Microtubules in
pmn mutant mice are unstable, because the underlying gene defect leads to a massive reduction of αβ-tubulin heterodimers, the basic components of microtubules [
46]. In cultured motoneurons, this leads to defective axon elongation [
63,
66], and levels of tyrosinated microtubules are increased in the axons of these motoneurons. Intermediate filaments are anatomically and functionally linked with microtubules. Neurofilament interacts with tubulin [
50] and stimulates microtubule polymerization in mature neurons [
4]. Any disturbance of NF protein levels does not only affect assembly of NF fibers, it also influences microtubules [
30]. NFM and NFH make cross bridges between adjacent NFs and microtubules [
51]. Thus, also removal of NFM and NFH sidearms delays the disease in SOD1 mutant mice [
43] in a similar manner as deletion of the
Nefl gene in this mouse model [
79]. Disease onset is also delayed in the same mouse model after treatment with microtubule stabilizing agents [
19]. However, it has not been shown so far whether stabilization of microtubules contributes to the beneficial effects of NFL depletion or removal of NFM and NFH sidearms in SOD1 mice. The observation made in our study that levels of acetylated tubulin increase in axons of NFL-deficient motoneurons points to this possibility, and indicates that the beneficial effects of normalizing IF levels or those of massive reduction of functional IFs could be due to the stabilization of microtubules.
The levels of tyrosinated tubulin are increased in all compartments of the
pmn mutant axons (Suppl. Figure 3) as observed in cultured motoneurons using light microscopy. The ultrastructural analyses of these
pmn mutant axons (Fig.
1c) indicate that the increase of IF also occurs in all compartments with a gradient from proximal to distal, which however is similar in motoneurons from wild-type and
pmn mutant mice. Thus the structural alterations in NFL upregulation do not go in parallel with dying back mechanisms in the cultured motoneurons, but they are thought to be of relevance for axonal transport processes in vivo which could contribute the degeneration of distal parts of the axons.
Stathmin plays a central role in the regulation of microtubule stability [
8]. It acts in two distinct ways on microtubule dynamics. First, it destabilizes existing microtubules by inducing microtubule catastrophes in a dose-dependent fashion in vitro [
2,
26,
45]. Second, it binds αβ-tubulin heterodimers and sequesters them in a way that microtubule polymerization is inhibited [
32]. In vitro, a change in the pH of the buffer can lead to a shift in the role of stathmin from sequestration of tubulin affecting microtubule elongation to increase in microtubule catastrophes [
27]. The N-terminal of stathmin is required for the catastrophic role, whereas the C-terminal is essential for the inhibition of MT-polymerization rate in vitro [
25,
39]. These effects on regulating microtubule dynamics apparently are involved in plasticity processes when neurons change their shape and new neuronal connections are made, for example during learning and memory processes. Mice which lack stathmin-1 show severe defects in fear memory formation in the amygdala [
69,
76] and this process correlates with high levels of stahmin-1 expression found in this brain region. Not much is known about how stathmin function is regulated, but its spatial distribution within cells seems to play a role [
67]. Several members of the stathmin family are associated with membranous structures by palmitoylation that orients these proteins to specific subcellular compartment and thus restricts their subcellular distribution [
8]. On the other hand, stathmin-1 lacks a palmitoylation signal, but this protein is not evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. In our study, we find stathmin-1 within axons, mostly colocalized with microtubules. High-resolution light microscopy with structured illumination microscopy (SIM) allowing resolution of structures down to nearly 100 nm reveals close proximity of stathmin with tyrosinated microtubules in the axons of wild-type motoneurons. This proximity seems to be increased in
Nefl−
/− motoneurons, and stathmin colocalization with Stat3 and microtubules also increases, as shown in Fig.
7, right panel. This increased interaction of stathmin with Stat3 is confirmed by biochemical immunoprecipitation assays. Neurofilament appears as part of this complex in pulldown assays, indicating that IFs play a role in the formation of complexes between Stat3 and stathmin. This could explain why IF depletion modulates microtubule stability.
In wild-type motoneurons, NFL depletion had a much more pronounced effect on stability of existing microtubules that are acetylated at relatively high levels when compared to microtubule regrowth after nocodazole treatment. In
pmn mutant motoneurons in which availability of αβ-tubulin heterodimers is reduced, NFL depletion also restored defective microtubule regrowth after nocodazole treatment. This differential effect of NFL depletion could be explained by the reduced availability of αβ-tubulin heterodimers in
pmn mutant motoneurons, which increases upon release of αβ-tubulin heterodimers when stathmin is inactivated by enhanced interaction with Stat3 [
66]. Thus, the increased interaction of Stat3 and stathmin in NFL-depleted motoneurons enhances the capacity for microtubule regrowth and microtubule plasticity in motoneurons from
pmn mutant mice. This also indicates that enhanced NFL levels in neurodegenerative diseases reduce the capacity for microtubule regrowth and microtubule plasticity. Our data provide evidence that the destabilizing activity of stathmin is enhanced when NFs are increased in
pmn pathology and probably in other neurodegenerative disorders, and this could make a major contribution to axonal degeneration.
When this idea is followed up towards therapeutic implications, this would mean that catastrophe-inducing endogenous MT deregulators such as stathmin proteins should be functionally blocked in order to stabilize microtubules and to enhance stability of axons in conditions involving IF accumulation or microtubule destabilization. In neurons, altered MT-based transport and aggregation of proteins is generally associated with neurodegenerative disorders [
57,
70]. Despite the fact that axons exhibit smaller diameter, the improvement in MT network in
Nefl−
/−;
pmn motoneurons apparently stabilizes the axon and possibly also improves the transport of cargoes, leading to prolonged survival and delay in the decline of motor function.
In summary, our findings suggest that NF accumulation contributes to axonal destabilization in the pmn mouse model of motoneuron disease and possibly also other forms of neurodegenerative disorders. NFL depletion stabilizes the MT structure and leads to enhanced axon growth in pmn mutant motoneurons via increased activation of Stat3 by phosphorylation at Y705 and thereby increased Stat3–stathmin interaction. Thus, targeting the NFL accumulation in neurodegenerative diseases could be a target for therapy in neurodegenerative disorders.