Respiratory infection with influenza A virus delays remyelination and alters oligodendrocyte metabolism.
Peripheral viral infection disrupts oligodendrocyte homeostasis such that endogenous remyelination may be affected. Here, we demonstrate that influenza A virus infection perpetuated a demyelination- and disease-associated oligodendrocyte (OL) phenotype following cuprizone-induced demyelination that resulted in delayed OL maturation and remyelination in the prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, we assessed cellular metabolism ex-vivo, and found that infection altered brain OL and microglia metabolism in a manner that opposed the metabolic profile induced by remyelination. Specifically, infection increased glycolytic capacity of OLs and microglia, an effect that was recapitulated by LPS stimulation of mixed glia cultures. In contrast, mitochondrial respiration was increased in OLs during remyelination, which was similarly observed in OLs of myelinating P14 mice compared to adult and aged mice. Collectively, our data indicate that respiratory viral infection is capable of suppressing remyelination, and suggest that metabolic dysfunction of OLs is implicated in remyelination impairment. Overall design: Spatial transcriptomic analysis was performed on brains from non-cuprizone control mice ("Normal"), cuprizone-fed mice at peak demyelination (“Demyelinated”), and saline-inoculated (“Saline”) or influenza virus-inoculated (“Flu”) mice during active remyelination