Abstract
Background: Neuroinflammation plays an important role in pathogenesis of germinal matrix hemorrhage (GMH). Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) is a member of the neurotrophin family, and it interacts with the tyrosine kinase B (TrkB) receptor. It has been studied that NT-4 has neuroprotective effects following cerebral ischemia. We aimed to investigate the neuroprotective function of NT-4 and it’s high affinity receptor TrkB as well as its downstream mediator phosphatidylinositol-3-kinases (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/Forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) following GMH in neonatal rats, with a specific focus on inflammation. Methods: GMH was induced by intraparenchymal injection of bacterial collagenase (0.3U) in P7 rat pups. A total of 163 seven-day-old pups were used in this study. The recombinant human NT-4 was administered intranasally at 1 hour after the collagenase injection. The selective TrkB antagonist ANA-12, selective PI3K inhibitor LY294002 and FoxO1 activating CRISPR were administered intracerebroventricularly at 24 hours prior to NT-4 treatment to investigate the potential mechanism. Short-and-long-term neurobehavior assessments, immunofluorescence staining, Nissl’s staining and Western blot were performed. Results：The expression of p-TrkB increased after GMH with a peak at day3. The TrkB receptor was expressed by neurons, microglia, and astrocytes. The administration of rh-NT-4 increased phosphorylation of TrkB, expression of PI3K, phosphorylation of Akt and decreased FoxO1, IL-1beta and IL-6 levels. Selective inhibition of TrkB/PI3K/Akt signaling in microglia increased the expression levels of FoxO1 and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The use of FoxO1 activation CRISPR increased the expression of IL-6, suggesting that FoxO1 might potentially induce pro-inflammatory factors. These results demonstrated that PI3K/Akt/FoxO1 may be the downstream pathway of TrkB phosphorylation. The rat pups treated with rh-NT-4 performed better than untreated animals both in short-and-long-term behavior test. Conclusion：These data showed that rh-NT-4 can reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, improve neurological function, attenuate neuroinflammation and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus after GMH by promoting TrkB/PI3K/Akt/FoxO1 pathway. These results indicated that rh-NT-4 could be a promising therapeutic target to ameliorate neuroinflammation and hydrocephalus after GMH or other similar brain injuries.
TrkB Agonist Antibody Pretreatment Enhances Neuronal Survival and Long-Term Sensory Motor Function Following Hypoxic Ischemic Injury in Neonatal Rats
