The Effect of Agmatine on Expression of IL-1β and TLX Which Promotes Neuronal Differentiation in Lipopolysaccharide-Treated Neural Progenitors.
Differentiation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs) is important for protecting neural cells and brain tissue during inflammation. Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is the most common pro- inflammatory cytokine in brain inflammation, and increased IL-1β levels can decrease the proliferation of NPCs. We aimed to investigate whether agmatine (Agm), a primary polyamine that protects neural cells, could trigger differentiation of NPCs by activating IL-1β in vitro. The cortex of ICR mouse embryos (E14) was dissociated to culture NPCs. NPCs were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After 6 days, protein expression of stem cell markers and differentiation signal factors was confirmed by using western blot analysis. Also, immunocytochemistry was used to confirm the cell fate. Agm treatment activated NPC differentiation significantly more than in the control group, which was evident by the increased expression of a neuronal marker, MAP2, in the LPS-induced, Agm-treated group. Differentiation of LPS-induced, Agm-treated NPCs was regulated by the MAPK pathway and is thought to be related to IL-1β activation and decreased expression of TLX, a transcription factor that regulates NPC differentiation. Our results reveal that Agm can promote NPC differentiation to neural stem cells by modulating IL-1β expression under inflammatory condition, and they suggest that Agm may be a novel therapeutic strategy for neuroinflammatory diseases.
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Juhyun
J
Song
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Bokara Kiran
BK
Kumar
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea. ; BK21 Plus Project for Medical Sciences, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Somang
S
Kang
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Kyung Ah
KA
Park
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Won Taek
WT
Lee
Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea. ; BK21 Plus Project for Medical Sciences, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Jong Eun
JE
Lee
IL-1β; TLX; agmatine; differentiation; lipopolysaccharide; neural progenitor cell (NPC)