Ferreira Ana Flávia F, Feng Zhong-Ping, Sun Hong-Shuo, Britto Luiz Roberto G
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Department of Physiology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Glia. 2025 Oct;73(10):2035-2056. doi: 10.1002/glia.70055. Epub 2025 Jul 15.
Inflammation, and particularly microglial cells, has become a central feature in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathology. The transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a calcium-permeable nonselective channel involved in the pathological mechanism of several inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the role of TRPM2 in inflammation and microglial activation in the context of PD remains unclear. Here, we combined both in vivo and in vitro PD models to investigate that question. Male and female TRPM2 partial and complete knockout mice were submitted to the 6-hydroxidopamine mouse model of PD. We assessed microglia and lysosome-associated protein (CD68) density levels, microglial morphology and cluster classification, CD68 area in individual microglial cells, and the protein levels of six different cytokines in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the striatum. Our results indicate that TRPM2 deletion reduced microglial density, rescued its morphology, decreased CD68 staining area within microglia, and lowered pro-inflammatory cytokines levels in both male and female mice. To better understand TRPM2 involvement in PD pathology, we selectively knocked-down TRPM2 in neurons, microglia, or both cells in a human neuron-microglia co-culture PD model. An improvement in cell viability and a decrease in cell death were observed across the different experimental approaches. Lastly, TRPM2 deletion revealed reduced microglial phagocytosis and decreased expression of inflammation-related molecules. For the first time, we demonstrated that TRPM2 is a critical mediator of microglial function in the context of PD. Thus, this study suggests that TRPM2 inhibition may offer a novel therapeutic target for PD modification.
炎症,尤其是小胶质细胞,已成为帕金森病(PD)病理的核心特征。瞬时受体电位香草酸亚家族成员2(TRPM2)是一种钙通透性非选择性通道,参与多种炎症和神经退行性疾病的病理机制。然而,在PD背景下,TRPM2在炎症和小胶质细胞激活中的作用仍不清楚。在此,我们结合体内和体外PD模型来研究这个问题。将雄性和雌性TRPM2部分和完全敲除小鼠用于PD的6-羟基多巴胺小鼠模型。我们评估了黑质致密部和纹状体中小胶质细胞和溶酶体相关蛋白(CD68)的密度水平、小胶质细胞形态和簇分类、单个小胶质细胞中的CD68面积以及六种不同细胞因子的蛋白水平。我们的结果表明,TRPM2缺失降低了小胶质细胞密度,恢复了其形态,减少了小胶质细胞内CD68染色面积,并降低了雄性和雌性小鼠体内促炎细胞因子水平。为了更好地理解TRPM2在PD病理中的作用,我们在人神经元-小胶质细胞共培养PD模型中选择性敲低神经元、小胶质细胞或两种细胞中的TRPM2。在不同的实验方法中均观察到细胞活力的改善和细胞死亡的减少。最后,TRPM2缺失显示小胶质细胞吞噬作用降低,炎症相关分子表达减少。我们首次证明,在PD背景下,TRPM2是小胶质细胞功能的关键介质。因此,本研究表明,抑制TRPM2可能为PD的治疗提供一个新的靶点。
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