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Song SS, Druschel LN, Conard JH, Wang JJ, Kasthuri NM, Ricky Chan E, Capadona JR. Depletion of complement factor 3 delays the neuroinflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes. Brain Behav Immun 2024; 118:221-235. [PMID: 38458498 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
The neuroinflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) used with brain-machine interfacing (BMI) applications is regarded as the primary contributor to poor chronic performance. Recent developments in high-plex gene expression technologies have allowed for an evolution in the investigation of individual proteins or genes to be able to identify specific pathways of upregulated genes that may contribute to the neuroinflammatory response. Several key pathways that are upregulated following IME implantation are involved with the complement system. The complement system is part of the innate immune system involved in recognizing and eliminating pathogens - a significant contributor to the foreign body response against biomaterials. Specifically, we have identified Complement 3 (C3) as a gene of interest because it is the intersection of several key complement pathways. In this study, we investigated the role of C3 in the IME inflammatory response by comparing the neuroinflammatory gene expression at the microelectrode implant site between C3 knockout (C3-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice. We have found that, like in WT mice, implantation of intracortical microelectrodes in C3-/- mice yields a dramatic increase in the neuroinflammatory gene expression at all post-surgery time points investigated. However, compared to WT mice, C3 depletion showed reduced expression of many neuroinflammatory genes pre-surgery and 4 weeks post-surgery. Conversely, depletion of C3 increased the expression of many neuroinflammatory genes at 8 weeks and 16 weeks post-surgery, compared to WT mice. Our results suggest that C3 depletion may be a promising therapeutic target for acute, but not chronic, relief of the neuroinflammatory response to IME implantation. Additional compensatory targets may also be required for comprehensive long-term reduction of the neuroinflammatory response for improved intracortical microelectrode performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney S Song
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - Lindsey N Druschel
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - Jacob H Conard
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - Jaime J Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - Niveda M Kasthuri
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - E Ricky Chan
- Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
| | - Jeffrey R Capadona
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States; Advanced Platform Technology Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.
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