Deletion of YTHDF1 (not YTHDF3) reduced brain and gut damage after traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 play the same role in brain and gut damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

METHODS

We generated YTHDF1-/- and YTHDF3-/- mice using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, established a mouse brain injury model through severe controlled cortical impact (CCI), and finally observed the different types of damage between YTHDF1-/- and YTHDF3-/- mice by analysing the levels of oedema proteins in cortical tissue and inflammatory proteins and histopathological lesions in brain and gut tissues in mice at 3 days after CCI.

RESULT

Compared with WT mice, YTHDF1-/- mice had decreased levels of oedema in cortical tissue and inflammation and histopathological lesions in brain and gut tissues at 3 days post-CCI, but YTHDF3-/- mice did not.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that deletion of YTHDF1, but not YTHDF3, could reduce damage to the brain and gut following TBI.