Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience (Apr 2018)

IL-33/ST2L Signaling Provides Neuroprotection Through Inhibiting Autophagy, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress, and Apoptosis in a Mouse Model of Traumatic Brain Injury

  • Yuan Gao,
  • Yuan Gao,
  • Ming-yang Zhang,
  • Tao Wang,
  • Yan-yan Fan,
  • Lin-sheng Yu,
  • Guang-hua Ye,
  • Zu-feng Wang,
  • Cheng Gao,
  • Hao-chen Wang,
  • Cheng-liang Luo,
  • Lu-yang Tao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2018.00095
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a member of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) cytokine family and an extracellular ligand for the orphan IL-1 receptor ST2. Accumulated evidence shows that the IL-33/ST2 axis plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of central nervous system (CNS) diseases and injury, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the roles and molecular mechanisms of the IL-33/ST2 axis after TBI remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in mouse TBI-induced brain edema and neurobehavioral deficits, and further exploited underlying mechanisms, using salubrinal (SAL), the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress inhibitor and anti-ST2L. The increase in IL-33 level and the decrease in ST2L level at injured cortex were first observed at 24 h post-TBI. By immunofluorescent double-labeled staining, IL-33 co-localized in GFAP-positive astrocytes, and Olig-2-positive oligodendrocytes, and predominantly presented in their nucleus. Additionally, TBI-induced brain water content, motor function outcome, and spatial learning and memory deficits were alleviated by IL-33 treatment. Moreover, IL-33 and SAL alone, or their combination prevented TBI-induced the increase of IL-1β and TNF-α levels, suppressed the up-regulation of ER stress, apoptosis and autophagy after TBI. However, anti-ST2L treatment could significantly invert the above effects of IL-33. Together, these data demonstrate that IL-33/ST2 signaling mitigates TBI-induced brain edema, motor function outcome, spatial learning and memory deficits, at least in part, by a mechanism involving suppressing autophagy, ER stress, apoptosis and neuroinflammation.

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