Abstract

The activation of microglial cells plays an important role in the cascade of events leading to inflammation-mediated neurodegenerative disorders. Precision therapeutics require that adjunctively feasible drugs be found to prevent microglial cell activation and prevent inflammation-mediated neuronal injury. Dextromethorphan (DM) has been reported to possess neuroprotective effects in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) stimulated animals; however, it remains unclear whether epigenetic regulatory mechanisms in microglial cells are involved in such DM-mediated neuroprotective effects. In this study, DM simultaneously suppressed LPS-induced activation of tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α expression and subsequent caspase-3 signaling in primary microglial cells associated with notable morphological changes. Furthermore, therapeutic action sites of DM involved differential enhanced trimethylation of H3K4 modifications in the promoter region of tnf-α gene locus in primary microglial cells. In summary, DM may exert neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects through differential epigenetic histone modifications of TNF-α expression in microglial cells and might therefore raise the possibility of providing an adjunctively beneficial role for a tentative therapeutic strategy in neurodegenerative diseases resulting from inflammation.

Highlights

  • The microglial cell serves as an important initiator of pathophysiological cascades leading to neuroinflammation through proinflammatory mediators within the central nervous system (CNS) [1]

  • Microglial cells can be activated by cytokines and/or chemokines and thereby release proinflammatory factors including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nitric oxide synthase, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) [2, 3]

  • The immunohistochemical (IHC) morphology was evaluated in primary microglial cells

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Summary

Introduction

The microglial cell serves as an important initiator of pathophysiological cascades leading to neuroinflammation through proinflammatory mediators within the central nervous system (CNS) [1]. Microglial cells can be activated by cytokines and/or chemokines and thereby release proinflammatory factors including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) [2, 3]. Bacterial LPS can trigger a cascade of biochemical events of the innate immune system and enhance an expression of microglia-derived proinflammatory factors, such as TNF-α, a crucial mediator of inflammation-mediated neurodegeneration [6]. It has long been known that the epigenetic regulatory mechanisms include DNA methylation, histone modification, and noncoding RNAs. The expression of TNF-α messenger RNA and protein was reported by epigenetic modifications of the TNF-α

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