The effect of lipopolysaccharide preconditioning in mouse model of spinal cord injury

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670660
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Orthopaedic surgery
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Kozo 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), センター, 総長 (60126133)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 炎症反応 / 脊髄損傷 / 動物実験

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Endotoxin/lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preconditioning (PC) has been shown to attenuate damage induced by stroke and brain trauma in rodent models. The present study preconditioned mice with LPS before inducing contusion SCI to investigate the effect of PC. We found that PC promotes the polarization of M1/M2 macrophages/microglia toward an M2 phenotype in the injured spinal cord on quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Flow cytometric analyses reveal that PC facilitates M2 activation in resident microglia. Augmented M2 activation was accompanied by tissue reorganization and functional recovery. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that LPS preconditioning has a therapeutic effect on SCI through the modulation of M1/M2 polarization of resident microglia. The present study suggests that controlling M1/M2 polarization through endotoxin signal transduction could become a promising therapeutic strategy for various central nervous system diseases.

Free Research Field

整形外科学