Frontiers in Pharmacology (May 2016)

Antagonist targeting microRNA-155 protects against lithium-pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus in C57BL/6 mice by activating brain-derived neurotrophic factor

  • Zhengxu eCai,
  • song eli,
  • sheng eli,
  • Fan eSong,
  • Zhen eZhang,
  • Guanhua eQi,
  • Tianbai eLi,
  • Juanjuan eQiu,
  • Jiajia eWan,
  • Hua eSui,
  • Hua eSui,
  • Huishu eGuo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00129
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7

Abstract

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Epilepsy is a severe brain disorder affecting numerous patients. Recently, it is inferred that modulation of microRNA-155 (miR-155) could serve as a promising treatment of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). In the current study, the therapeutic potential of miR-155 antagonist against TLE was evaluated and the underlying mechanism involved in this regulation was explored. TLE model was induced by lithium-pilocarpine method. The effect of miR-155 antagonist on epilepticus symptoms of TLE mice was assessed using Racine classification and electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. The expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its association with miR-155 were also assessed with a series of experiments. Our results showed that level of miR-155 was significantly up-regulated after induction of TLE model. Based on the results of EEG and behavior analyses, seizures in mice were alleviated by miR-155 antagonist. Moreover, administration of miR-155 antagonist also significantly increased the level of BDNF. The results of dual luciferase assay and western blotting showed that miR-155 antagonist exerted its action on status epilepticus by directly regulating the activity of BDNF. Taken all the information together, our results demonstrated that miR-155 antagonist might firstly induce the expression of BDNF, which then contributed to the alleviation of epilepsy in the current study.

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