2. Academic Validation
  3. Protective effect of Nr4a2 (Nurr1) against LPS-induced depressive-like behaviors via regulating activity of microglia and CamkII neurons in anterior cingulate cortex

Protective effect of Nr4a2 (Nurr1) against LPS-induced depressive-like behaviors via regulating activity of microglia and CamkII neurons in anterior cingulate cortex

  • Pharmacol Res. 2023 Mar 20;106717. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106717.
Yong He 1,  Yue Wang 1,  Heming Yu 1,  Yu Tian 1,  Xiangyu Chen 1,  Chong Chen 1,  Yikun Ren 1,  Zhi Chen 1,  Yi Ren 1,  Xue Gong 1,  Ke Cheng 1,  Xiaolei Liu 2,  Lianmei Zhong 3,  Yi Guo 4,  Peng Xie 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 NHC Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment on Brain Functional Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China; Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
  • 2 Neurology Department of the First affiliated hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
  • 3 Neurology Department of the First affiliated hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 4 Department of Neurology, Shenzhen People's Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, The First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518020, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 5 NHC Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment on Brain Functional Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 1 Youyi Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China; Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 36948326 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106717
Abstract

Neuroinflammation is tightly associated with onset of depression. The nuclear receptor related 1 protein (Nurr1, also called Nr4a2), its roles in dopaminergic neurons is well understood, which can alleviate inflammation. Nevertheless, potential effects of Nr4a2 on neuroinflammation associated with depression still remains unclear. Chronic lipopolysaccharides (LPS) stress induced depressive-behaviors were confirmed via behavioral tests. Differentially expressed genes were detected by using RNA-sequencing. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) tissues were collected for biochemical experiments. The Golgi-Cox staining and virus labeling were used to evaluate the dendritic spines. We applied fluoxetine (FLX) and amodiaquine dihydrochloride (AQ, a highly selective agonist of Nr4a2) in mice. Overexpression experiments were performed by injecting with AAV-Nr4a2-EGFP into ACC. Chemogenetic activation of CamkII neurons via injecting the hM3Dq virus. Mice treated with LPS displayed depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors. The reduction of Nr4a2 and FosB induced by LPS were rescued by pretreatment with FLX or AQ. More importantly, LPS-induced behavior deficits in mice were also alleviated via fluoxetine treatment and pharmacological activation the expression of Nr4a2. Meanwhile, enhancing the level of Nr4a2 could improve dendritic spines loss of neuron and morphological changes in microglia. Overexpression of Nr4a2 in ACC reversed the depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors caused by LPS administration. Activation of CamkII neurons in ACC could robustly increase the expression of Nr4a2 and improve LPS-induced behavior deficits. Our findings demonstrate that the Nr4a2 may regulate depressive-like behaviors via alleviating the impairment of morphology and function on microglia and CamkII neurons induced by chronic neuroinflammation.

Keywords

LPS; Nr4a2; anterior cingulate cortex; depression; neuroinflammation.

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