Effects of SRC and IKKβ Kinase Inhibition in Ischemic Factors Modeling In Vitro and In Vivo

The search for new molecular targets whose modulation can reduce nerve cell dysfunction and neuronal death during ischemic damage is one of the most significant issues in both fundamental and clinical neurobiology. Various kinase enzymes are often considered to be such promising targets since they are involved in key molecular cascades that regulate cell adaptation to stress factors. Our work is devoted to the study of the role of two kinases—SRC and IKKβ—in maintaining the neural networks’ functional activity under a hypoxic condition in vivo and in vitro. SRC kinase is a cytoplasmic non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase. It is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation; its expression in nerve cells changes during hypoxia. IKKβ kinase is involved in the regulation of the activity of the transcription factor NF-κB, which is a pleiotropic regulator of many cellular signaling pathways. We have shown that blockade of SRC and IKKβ kinases by selective inhibitors maintains cell viability in modeling hypoxic damage in vitro but does not allow for the preservation of the bioelectrical activity of neurons. Studies in vivo have shown the neuroprotective effect of SRC but not IKKβ kinase inhibition in the modeling of cerebral ischemia in mice.

Inhibition of Neuronal Necroptosis Mediated by RIPK1 Provides Neuroprotective Effects on Hypoxia and Ischemia In Vitro and In Vivo

Ischemic brain injury is a widespread pathological condition, the main components of which are a deficiency of oxygen and energy substrates. In recent years, a number of new forms of cell death, including necroptosis, have been described. In necroptosis, a cascade of interactions between the kinases RIPK1 and RIPK3 and the MLKL protein leads to the formation of a specialized death complex called the necrosome, which triggers MLKL-mediated destruction of the cell membrane and necroptotic cell death. Necroptosis probably plays an important role in the development of ischemia/reperfusion injury and can be considered as a potential target for finding methods to correct the disruption of neural networks in ischemic damage. In the present study, we demonstrated that blockade of RIPK1 kinase by Necrostatin-1 preserved the viability of cells in primary hippocampal cultures in an in vitro model of glucose deprivation. The effect of RIPK1 blockade on the bioelectrical and metabolic calcium activity of neuron-glial networks in vitro using calcium imaging and multi-electrode arrays was assessed for the first time. RIPK1 blockade was shown to partially preserve both calcium and bioelectric activity of neuron-glial networks under ischemic factors. However, it should be noted that RIPK1 blockade does not preserve the network parameters of the collective calcium dynamics of neuron-glial networks, despite the maintenance of network bioelectrical activity (the number of bursts and the number of spikes in the bursts). To confirm the data obtained in vitro, we studied the effect of RIPK1 blockade on the resistance of small laboratory animals to in vivo modeling of hypoxia and cerebral ischemia. The use of Necrostatin-1 increases the survival rate of C57BL mice in modeling both acute hypobaric hypoxia and ischemic brain damage.

Neuroprotective Effect of Kinase Inhibition in Ischemic Factor Modeling In Vitro

The contribution of many neuronal kinases to the adaptation of nerve cells to ischemic damage and their effect on functional neural network activity has not yet been studied. The aim of this work is to study the role of the four kinases belonging to different metabolic cascades (SRC, Ikkb, eEF2K, and FLT4) in the adaptive potential of the neuron-glial network for modeling the key factors of ischemic damage. We carried out a comprehensive study on the effects of kinases blockade on the viability and network functional calcium activity of nerve cells under ischemic factor modeling in vitro. Ischemic factor modelling was performed on day 14 of culturing primary hippocampal cells obtained from mouse embryos (E18). The most significant neuroprotective effect was shown in the blockade of FLT4 kinase in the simulation of hypoxia. The studies performed revealed the role of FLT4 in the development of functional dysfunction in cerebrovascular accidents and created new opportunities for the study of this enzyme and its blockers in the formation of new therapeutic strategies.