Yang C, Feng Z, Deng H, Dai L, He L, Yin L, Zhao J. CXCL1/CXCR2 is involved in white matter injury in neonatal rats via the gut–brain axis.
BMC Neurosci 2022;
23:67. [PMCID:
PMC9675237 DOI:
10.1186/s12868-022-00749-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
This study aimed to investigate whether CXCL1/CXCR2 mediates intestinal injury or white matter injury by delivering inflammatory mediators through the gut–brain regulation axis.
Methods
Neonatal SD rats, regardless of sex, were administered 3% dextran sulfate sodium via intragastric administration at different time points to construct necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) models. Meanwhile, hypoxia and ischemia were induced in 3 day-old SD rats to construct hypoxic–ischemic brain injury (HIBI) and NEC + HIBI models, without gender discrimination. Hematoxylin–eosin staining was used to observe pathological changes in neonatal rat intestinal and brain tissues. Western blotting detected CXCL1 and CXCR2 expression in NEC, HIBI, and NEC + HIBI rat intestinal and brain tissues.
Results
Compared with normal rats, pathological damage to periventricular white matter was observed in the NEC group. In addition to the increased mortality, the histopathological scores also indicated significant increases in brain and intestinal tissue damage in both HIBI and NEC + HIBI rats. Western blotting results suggested that CXCL1 and CXCR2 expression levels were upregulated to varying degrees in the intestinal and brain tissues of NEC, HIBI, and NEC + HIBI neonatal rats compared to that in the normal group. Compared with the HIBI group, the expression of CXCL1 and CXCR2 continued to increase in NEC + HIBI rats at different time points.
Conclusions
CXCL1/CXCR2 may be involved in white matter injury in neonatal rats by delivering intestinal inflammatory mediators through the gut–brain axis.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12868-022-00749-1.
Pathologically impaired periventricular white matter was observed in NEC neonatal rats.
Hypoxic-ischemic brain injury can also lead to intestinal inflammation.
CXCL1 and CXCR2 were significantly upregulated in intestinal and brain tissues in NEC, HIBI, and NEC+HIBI rats compared to the normal group.
Compared with the HIBI group, CXCL1 and CXCR2 expression continued to increase in NEC+HIBI rats.
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