Selective utilization of glucose metabolism guides mammalian gastrulation.

The prevailing dogma for morphological patterning in developing organisms argues that the combined inputs of transcription factor networks and signalling morphogens alone generate spatially and temporally distinct expression patterns. However, metabolism has also emerged as a critical developmental regulator, independent of its functions in energy production and growth. The mechanistic role of nutrient utilization in instructing cellular programmes to shape the in vivo developing mammalian embryo remains unknown.

Mannose controls mesoderm specification and symmetry breaking in mouse gastruloids.

Patterning and growth are fundamental features of embryonic development that must be tightly coordinated. To understand how metabolism impacts early mesoderm development, we used mouse embryonic stem-cell-derived gastruloids, that co-expressed glucose transporters with the mesodermal marker T/Bra. We found that the glucose mimic, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), blocked T/Bra expression and abolished axial elongation in gastruloids.

A Spatiotemporal Compartmentalization of Glucose Metabolism Guides Mammalian Gastrulation Progression.

Gastrulation is considered the of embryogenesis, establishing a multidimensional structure and the spatial coordinates upon which all later developmental events transpire. At this time, the embryo adopts a heavy reliance on glucose metabolism to support rapidly accelerating changes in morphology, proliferation, and differentiation. However, it is currently unknown how this conserved metabolic shift maps onto the three-dimensional landscape of the growing embryo and whether it is spatially linked to the orchestrated cellular and molecular processes necessary for gastrulation.

Development of a Slow-Degrading Polymerized Curcumin Coating for Intracortical Microelectrodes.

Intracortical microelectrodes are used with brain-computer interfaces to restore lost limb function following nervous system injury. While promising, recording ability of intracortical microelectrodes diminishes over time due, in part, to neuroinflammation. As curcumin has demonstrated neuroprotection through anti-inflammatory activity, we fabricated a 300 nm-thick intracortical microelectrode coating consisting of a polyurethane copolymer of curcumin and polyethylene glycol (PEG), denoted as poly(curcumin-PEG carbamate) (PCPC).