小胶质细胞对阿尔兹海默病发生发展的影响作用

阿尔兹海默病(老年性痴呆,AD)是由β淀粉样蛋白(Aβ)和微管相关蛋白(Tau)聚集形成的具有毒性作用的寡聚物而引起的老年人主要以记忆力下降和脑部形成老年斑、神经纤维缠绕为特征的神经退行性疾病. 小胶质细胞作为中枢神经系统中的固有免疫细胞,是脑内免疫监视的关键成分,发挥内源性免疫防御作用. 正常生理状态的小胶质细胞能有效吞噬和清除毒性Aβ寡聚体,阻止AD发生. 在AD病理过程中,过度激活的小胶质细胞通过补体依赖途径过度吞噬突触,导致突触丧失,同时大量释放炎症因子,促进Tau相关病理变化,对神经元造成直接损伤,导致认知功能下降. 由此可见,小胶质细胞在AD发生发展过程中起着双刃剑的作用,探明小胶质细胞的极化状态及其在AD疾病机理中的作用将为攻克AD的药物研发提供突破性思路.     

Acetate Treatment Increases Fatty Acid Content in LPS-Stimulated BV2 Microglia

Acetate supplementation increases plasma acetate, brain acetyl-CoA, histone acetylation, phosphocreatine levels, and is anti-inflammatory in models of neuroinflammation and neuroborreliosis. Although radiolabeled acetate is incorporated into the cellular lipid pools, the effect that acetate supplementation has on lipid deposition has not been quantified. To determine the impact acetate-treatment has on cellular lipid content, we investigated the effect of acetate in the presence of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on fatty acid, phospholipid, and cholesterol content in BV2 microglia. We found that 1, 5, and 10 mM of acetate in the presence of LPS increased the total fatty acid content in BV2 cells by 23, 34, and 14 % at 2 h, respectively. Significant increases in individual fatty acids were also observed with all acetate concentrations tested with the greatest increases occurring with 5 mM acetate in the presence of LPS. Treatment with 5 mM acetate in the absence of LPS increased total cholesterol levels by 11 %. However, neither treatment in the absence of LPS significantly altered the content of individual phospholipids or total phospholipid content. To determine the minimum effective concentration of acetate we measured the time- and concentration-dependent changes in histone acetylation using western blot analysis. These studies showed that 5 mM acetate was necessary to induce histone acetylation and at 10 mM acetate, the histone acetylation-state increased as early as 0.5 h following the start of treatment. These data suggest that acetate increases fatty acid content in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia that is reflected by an increase in fatty acids esterified into membrane phospholipids.     

Gallic acid, a histone acetyltransferase inhibitor, suppresses β-amyloid neurotoxicity by inhibiting microglial-mediated neuroinflammation

Scope: We examined the biological effect of gallic acid (GA) as a nuclear factor (NF)‐κB acetyltransferase inhibitor on microglial‐mediated β‐amyloid neurotoxicity and restorative effects on the Aβ‐induced cognitive dysfunction. Methods and results: The protective effects of GA on the survival of neuronal cells were assessed with an MTT assay and a co‐culture system. For the co‐culture experiments, both BV‐2 and primary microglia cells were treated with GA prior to Aβ stimulation, and conditioned media were transferred to Neuro‐2A cells. The mRNA and protein levels of inflammatory cytokines in both microglia and Neuro‐2A cells were assessed with real‐time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Inhibition of nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) acetylation with GA treatment resulted in reduced cytokine production in microglia cells and protection of neuronal cells from Aβ‐induced neurotoxicity. Furthermore, we observed a restorative effect of GA on Aβ‐induced cognitive dysfunction in mice with Y‐maze and passive avoidance tests. Finally, we found that GA treatment efficiently blocked neuronal cell death by downregulating the expression of cytokines and the in vivo levels of NF‐κB acetylation. Conclusion: These results suggest that selective inhibition of NF‐κB acetylation by the histone acetyltransferase inhibitor GA is a possible therapeutic approach for alleviating the inflammatory progression of Alzheimer disease.     

微波诱导小胶质细胞活化后吞噬功能及MFG-E8表达的变化

为探讨微波辐照致小胶质细胞活化后吞噬功能变化及其与MFG-E8表达的关系,采用60 mW/cm2的脉冲微波辐照N9小胶质细胞,ELISA技术测定TNF-α含量,硝酸还原酶法测定NO含量,免疫荧光检测CD11b和MFG-E8,Western blot检测MFG-E8蛋白表达。与正常对照组相比,辐照后3、12 h小胶质细胞中CD11b的表达明显增加(p<0.05),TNF-α和NO含量辐照后1 h即明显升高,并持续至辐照后24 h,小胶质细胞吞噬功能在辐照后3 h至6 h增强(p<0.05),12 h反而低于正常对照组(p<0.05),而MFG-E8蛋白表达与吞噬功能变化趋势相似。结果表明,60 mW/cm2的脉冲微波辐照可明显诱导小胶质细胞活化,活化后小胶质细胞对凋亡细胞的吞噬功能出现先增强后减弱的变化,而MFG-E8蛋白表达变化可能是其吞噬功能改变的主要原因之一。     

Mesenchymal stem cells: As a multi-target cell therapy for clearing β-amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease

Extracellular β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Studies have shown that aggregates of extracellular Aβ can induce neuroinflammation mediated neurotoxic signaling through microglial activation and release of pro-inflammatory factors. Thus, modulation of Aβ might be a potential therapeutic strategy for modifying disease progression. Recently, a large number of reports have confirmed the beneficial effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on AD. It is believed to reduce neuroinflammation, reduce Aβ amyloid deposits and NFTs, increase acetylcholine levels, promote neurogenesis, reduce neuronal damage, and improve working memory and cognition. In this review, we focus on the role of MSCs in clearing Aβ deposition. MSCs have the potential to modulate Aβ-related microenvironments via enhancement of autophagy, proteolysis of Aβ aggregates, phagocytic clearance of Aβ by microglial M2 polarization, decrease oxidative stress (OS), and correction of abnormal sphingolipid (SL) metabolism. With advantages in clinical applications, these data suggest that the use of MSCs as a multi-target modulator of Aβ would be an effective therapeutic approach in AD.     

Inhibition of neuroinflammation by cinnamon and its main components

Uncontrolled activation of microglia contributes to neuroinflammation, which is highly involved in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Although cinnamon has neuro-protective properties, its capacity to inhibit neuroinflammation has not been investigated and its active compounds remain unclear. Therefore, the composition of cinnamon extract was analysed by LC–MS and the ability of cinnamon and its main constituents to inhibit neuroinflammation was evaluated using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated BV2 microglia culture system. In total, 50 μg/mL cinnamon extract decreased significantly the production and expression of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in LPS-activated BV2 microglia. Blocking of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation was the most likely mechanism responsible for inhibition by cinnamon of neuroinflammation. Among the eight tested compounds, cinnamaldehyde had the greatest anti-neuroinflammatory capacity. Experimental results suggest that cinnamon may have a potential therapeutic effect against neurodegenerative diseases and its potent anti-neuroinflammatory capacity was primarily attributed to cinnamaldehyde.