Department of Neurology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, 105 Jiefang Rd, Lixia District, Jinan, 250013, Shandong, China.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 30;13(1):5214. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32351-8.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major risk factor to develop epilepsy and cognitive impairments. Neuropeptide oxytocin has been previously evidenced to produce antiepileptic effects. However, the involvement of central oxytocin in TBI-induced epileptic status and cognitive dysfunctions is not fully elucidated. In this study, we aim to investigate the role of oxytocin on a TBI model followed by seizure induction to clarify whether the epilepsy and cognitive deficits could be mitigated by oxytocin. TBI was established by weight drop and epileptic behaviors were induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) injection in mice. Moreover, oxytocin was microinjected into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to observe the effects on the epilepsy and cognition. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) function and the neuroinflammation were measured by Evans Blue staining and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, respectively. Mice exposed to TBI demonstrate increased vulnerability to PTZ-mediated seizures and cognitive disturbances with a decrease in peripheral and brain oxytocin levels. Additionally, TBI reduces oxytocin, disrupts the BBB permeability and triggers neuroinflammation in mPFC in PTZ-treated mice. Intra-mPFC oxytocin simultaneously mitigates epilepsy and cognitive impairments. Finally, oxytocin restores BBB integrity and reduces mPFC inflammation in PTZ-treated TBI mice. These findings showed that intra-mPFC oxytocin suppressed the seizure vulnerability and cognitive deficits in TBI mice. The normalization of BBB integrity and inhibition of neuroinflammation may be involved in the antiepileptic and cognition-improved effects of oxytocin, suggesting that targeting inflammatory procedure in mPFC may decrease the risk to develop epilepsy and cognitive impairments in individuals previously experienced TBI.
创伤性脑损伤 (TBI) 是引发癫痫和认知障碍的主要风险因素。先前有证据表明神经肽催产素具有抗癫痫作用。然而,中枢催产素在 TBI 诱导的癫痫状态和认知功能障碍中的作用尚未完全阐明。在这项研究中,我们旨在研究催产素在 TBI 模型后的作用,以确定癫痫和认知缺陷是否可以通过催产素得到缓解。TBI 通过重物坠落建立,在小鼠中通过戊四氮 (PTZ) 注射诱导癫痫发作。此外,将催产素微注射到内侧前额叶皮质 (mPFC) 中,以观察其对癫痫和认知的影响。通过 Evans Blue 染色和酶联免疫吸附测定分别测量血脑屏障 (BBB) 功能和神经炎症。暴露于 TBI 的小鼠对 PTZ 介导的癫痫发作和认知障碍的易感性增加,外周和大脑催产素水平降低。此外,TBI 降低了催产素,破坏了 BBB 通透性,并在 PTZ 处理的小鼠的 mPFC 中引发了神经炎症。mPFC 内的催产素同时减轻了癫痫发作和认知障碍。最后,催产素恢复了 BBB 的完整性,并减少了 PTZ 处理的 TBI 小鼠 mPFC 中的炎症。这些发现表明,mPFC 内的催产素抑制了 TBI 小鼠的癫痫易感性和认知缺陷。BBB 完整性的正常化和神经炎症的抑制可能参与了催产素的抗癫痫和认知改善作用,这表明靶向 mPFC 中的炎症过程可能会降低先前经历 TBI 的个体发生癫痫和认知障碍的风险。