A Vagina Monologue: Mom's Stress, Bugs, and Baby's Brain

A Spectrum of Topics for 2019: Advances in Neuroinflammation, Oxidative Stress, Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus, Cardiovascular Disease, Autism, Exosomes, and Central Nervous System Diseases

Advances in various fields were discussed in the reviews and original research articles published in 2019 in Current Pharmaceutical Design. Here, I review some of the major highlights for selected areas. A better understanding of disease mechanisms was a prominent recurrent theme and new therapeutic targets based on those mechanisms are highlighted here. Inflammation and oxidative stress are major features of many diseases, therefore, interventions to address these processes are reviewed. Although repurposing of old drugs occurred in several fields, drug targeting and drug delivery, especially of nanoparticles, also continues to be a major area of interest.

Transgenerational transmission of pregestational and prenatal experience: maternal adversity, enrichment, and underlying epigenetic and environmental mechanisms

Transgenerational transmission refers to positive and negative adaptations in brain function and behavior that affect following generations. In this paper, empirical findings regarding the transgenerational transmission of maternal adversity during three critical periods - childhood, pregestational adulthood and pregnancy - will be reviewed in terms of pregnancy outcomes, maternal care, offspring behavior and development, and physiological functioning. Research on the transgenerational transmission of enrichment and the implications for interventions to ameliorate the consequences of adversity will also be presented. In the final section, underlying epigenetic and environmental mechanisms that have been proposed to explain how experience is transferred across generations through transgenerational transmission will be reviewed. Directions for future research are suggested throughout.

Lipopolysaccharide-induced blood-brain barrier disruption: roles of cyclooxygenase, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and elements of the neurovascular unit

Background

Disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) occurs in many diseases and is often mediated by inflammatory and neuroimmune mechanisms. Inflammation is well established as a cause of BBB disruption, but many mechanistic questions remain.

Methods

We used lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation and BBB disruption in mice. BBB disruption was measured using ¹⁴C-sucrose and radioactively labeled albumin. Brain cytokine responses were measured using multiplex technology and dependence on cyclooxygenase (COX) and oxidative stress determined by treatments with indomethacin and N-acetylcysteine. Astrocyte and microglia/macrophage responses were measured using brain immunohistochemistry. In vitro studies used Transwell cultures of primary brain endothelial cells co- or tri-cultured with astrocytes and pericytes to measure effects of LPS on transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER), cellular distribution of tight junction proteins, and permeability to ¹⁴C-sucrose and radioactive albumin.

Results

In comparison to LPS-induced weight loss, the BBB was relatively resistant to LPS-induced disruption. Disruption occurred only with the highest dose of LPS and was most evident in the frontal cortex, thalamus, pons-medulla, and cerebellum with no disruption in the hypothalamus. The in vitro and in vivo patterns of LPS-induced disruption as measured with ¹⁴C-sucrose, radioactive albumin, and TEER suggested involvement of both paracellular and transcytotic pathways. Disruption as measured with albumin and ¹⁴C-sucrose, but not TEER, was blocked by indomethacin. N-acetylcysteine did not affect disruption. In vivo, the measures of neuroinflammation induced by LPS were mainly not reversed by indomethacin. In vitro, the effects on LPS and indomethacin were not altered when brain endothelial cells (BECs) were cultured with astrocytes or pericytes.

Conclusions

The BBB is relatively resistant to LPS-induced disruption with some brain regions more vulnerable than others. LPS-induced disruption appears is to be dependent on COX but not on oxidative stress. Based on in vivo and in vitro measures of neuroinflammation, it appears that astrocytes, microglia/macrophages, and pericytes play little role in the LPS-mediated disruption of the BBB.