β-Hydroxybutyrate Improves the Redox Status, Cytokine Production and Phagocytic Potency of Glucose-Deprived HMC3 Human Microglia-like Cells.

Brain glucose deprivation is a component of the pathophysiology of ischemia, glucose transporter1 (GLUT1) deficiency, neurological disorders and occurs transiently in diabetes. Microglia, the neuroimmune cells must function effectively to offer immune defence and debris removal in low-energy settings. Brain glucose deprivation may compromise microglial functions further escalating the disease pathology and deteriorating the overall mental health. In the current study, HMC3 human microglia-like cells were cultured in vitro and exposed to glucose deprivation to investigate the effects of glucose deprivation on phenotypic state, redox status, secretion of cytokines and phagocytic capabilities of HMC3 cells. However, HMC3 cells were able to proliferate in the absence of glucose but showed signs of redox imbalance and mitochondrial dysfunction, as demonstrated by decreased MTT reduction and Mito Tracker™ staining of cells, along with a concomitant reduction in NOX2 protein, superoxide, and nitrite levels. Reduced levels of secreted TNF and IL-1β were the signs of compromised cytokine secretion by glucose-deprived HMC3 microglia-like cells. Moreover, glucose-deprived HMC3 cells also showed reduced phagocytic activity as assessed by fluorescently labelled latex beads-based functional phagocytosis assay. β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) supplementation restored the redox status, mitochondrial health, cytokine secretion, and phagocytic activity of glucose-deprived HMC3 microglia-like cells. Overall, impaired brain glucose metabolism may hinder microglia's capacity to release diffusible immune factors and perform phagocytosis. This could escalate the mental health issues in neurological diseases where brain glucose metabolism is compromised. Moreover, nutritional ketosis or exogenous ketone supplementation such as BHB may be utilized as a potential metabolic therapies for these conditions.