Hypoxic preconditioning reduces NLRP3 inflammasome expression and protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

Hypoxic preconditioning can protect against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. However, the underlying mechanisms that mediate this effect are not completely clear. In this study, mice were pretreated with continuous, intermittent hypoxic preconditioning;1 hour later, cerebral ischemia/reperfusion models were generated by middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion. Compared with control mice, mice with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury showed increased Bederson neurological function scores, significantly increased cerebral infarction volume, obvious pathological damage to the hippocampus, significantly increased apoptosis;upregulated interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 levels in brain tissue;and increased expression levels of NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3(NLRP3), NLRP inflammasome-related protein caspase-1, and gasdermin D. However, hypoxic preconditioning significantly inhibited the above phenomena. Taken together, these data suggest that hypoxic preconditioning mitigates cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice by reducing NLRP3 inflammasome expression. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Fourth Hospital of Baotou, China(approval No. DWLL2019001) in November 2019.

Hypoxic Preconditioning Eliminates Differences in the Innate Resistance of Rats to Severe Hypoxia

Hypoxic preconditioning is able to increase the body’s resistance to hypoxic/ischemic stress. Understanding how to apply the hypoxic response to initiate the protective mechanism of ischemic preconditioning is a high priority. However, the relationship between innate resistance to hypoxic stress and preconditioning efficiency of moderate hypoxia has been poorly studied. In our work, the efficiency of single moderate hypobaric hypoxia (HBH) for resistance to severe hypobaric hypoxia (SHBH) was studied on intact rats and those pre-tested under SHBH with low, intermediate and high resistance to hypoxia. HBH has a significant preconditioning action on the resistance to hypoxia over a wide range from 270 to 1464 s (4.5 to 24.5 min) and at the same time eliminates the differences in the endurance under SHBH between all rat groups. It is concluded that 1) HBH preconditioning efficiency does not depend on an innate resistance to SHBH and prior hypoxic experience of rats;and 2) the pretesting to severe hypoxia has no value for predicting the hypoxic preconditioning efficiency and study of adaptive mechanisms.

Hypoxic Preconditioning Improved Neuroprotective Effect of Bone Marrow-Mesenchymal Stem Cells Transplantation in Acute Glaucoma Models

This study explored the novel strategy of hypoxic preconditioning of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BM-MSCs) before intra vitreal transplantation to improve neuroprotective effects of Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) in Acute Glaucoma Models. The methods of this research were isolated mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of adult wild-type Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. BM-MSCs were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic (1% oxygen for 24 hours) conditions. Normoxic or hypoxic BM-MSCs were transplanted intravitreally 1 week after ocular hypertension induction by acutely increasing IOP to 100 - 120 mmHg for 60 minutes. Rats were killed 4 weeks after transplanted. Apoptosis was examined by tunnel assay and expression Brn3b (Brn3b = RGCs marker) by immunohistochemical analysis of the retina. Results showed that transplantation of hypoxic preconditioning BM-MSCs in acute glaucoma models resulted in a significant apoptosis decreasing (p < 0.05) and an significant increasing in RGCs (p < 0.05), as well as enhanced mor-phologic and functional benefits of stem cell therapy versus normoxic BM-MSCs transplantation. Conclusions: Hypoxic preconditioning enhances the capacity of BM-MSCs transplantation to improve neuroprotective effects of RGCs in Acute Glaucoma Models.

Hypoxic/ischemic preconditioning attenuate PKCδ-medi-ated injury in patients and mice with cerebral infarction

Objective:cerebral ischemic/hypox-ic preconditioning(I/HPC)is an endogenous strategy in which brief periods of sublethal ischemia/hypoxia render neural tissues resistant to subsequent ischemic/hypoxic damage.This phenomenon has been found in the brain,heart,liver,intestine,muscle,kidneys,and lung.How-ever,whether HPC has a protective effect on secondary cerebral ischemic injury or protein kinase Cδ(PKCδ)within ischemic patients and animal models is still un-clear.Methods:using a hypoxic preconditioned mouse model and a middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse mod-el,combined with 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining,SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(SDS-PAGE),and Western blot,we observed changes in infarction size,density,edema ratio,and changes in PKCδand membrane translocation within the ischemic cortex of the middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)mice.Results:HPC can attenuate neurological deficits and cerebral ischemic injuries of mice following MCAO,including decreases in infarct size,edema ratio,densities of infarct area,and neuron loss.In addition,HPC inhib-its PKCδmembrane translocation in the penumbra of the MCAO-induced ischemic cortex.We found that admin-istration of PKCδ-specific inhibitor dV1-1 mimics the neuroprotective effects of HPC,and nonisoform-specif-ic activation of PKC can partially abolish HPC-induced neuroprotection.Ischemic preconditioning decreased the levels of PKCδin the serum of patients with cerebral in-farction and reduced the cerebral nerve damage caused by ischemia.Conclusion:hypoxic/ischemic precondi-tioning attenuates PKCδ-mediated injury in patients and mice.These findings enrich our understanding of the sig-nal transduction mechanism underlying cerebral HPC and provide clues to developing medicine against ischemia/hypoxia-induced cerebral injuries.

miRNA-21-5p is an important contributor to the promotion of injured peripheral nerve regeneration using hypoxia-pretreated bone marrow-derived neural crest cells

Our previous study found that rat bone marrow–derived neural crest cells(acting as Schwann cell progenitors)have the potential to promote long-distance nerve repair.Cell-based therapy can enhance peripheral nerve repair and regeneration through paracrine bioactive factors and intercellular communication.Nevertheless,the complex contributions of various types of soluble cytokines and extracellular vesicle cargos to the secretome remain unclear.To investigate the role of the secretome and extracellular vesicles in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,we collected conditioned culture medium from hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells,and found that it significantly promoted the repair of sensory neurons damaged by oxygen-glucose deprivation.The mRNA expression of trophic factors was highly expressed in hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cells.We performed RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis and found that miR-21-5p was enriched in hypoxia-pretreated extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells.Subsequently,to further clarify the role of hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles rich in miR-21-5p in axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,we used a microfluidic axonal dissociation model of sensory neurons in vitro,and found that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest cell extracellular vesicles promoted axonal growth and regeneration of sensory neurons,which was greatly dependent on loaded miR-21-5p.Finally,we constructed a miR-21-5p-loaded neural conduit to repair the sciatic nerve defect in rats and found that the motor and sensory functions of injured rat hind limb,as well as muscle tissue morphology of the hind limbs,were obviously restored.These findings suggest that hypoxia-pretreated neural crest extracellular vesicles are natural nanoparticles rich in miRNA-21-5p.miRNA-21-5p is one of the main contributors to promoting nerve regeneration by the neural crest cell secretome.This helps to explain the mechanism of action of the secretome and extracellular vesicles of neural crest cells in repairing damaged peripheral nerves,and also promotes the application of miR-21-5p in tissue engineering regeneration medicine.

Hypoxia-preconditioned bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells protect neurons from cardiac arrest-induced pyroptosis

Cardiac arrest can lead to severe neurological impairment as a result of inflammation,mitochondrial dysfunction,and post-cardiopulmonary resuscitation neurological damage.Hypoxic preconditioning has been shown to improve migration and survival of bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells and reduce pyroptosis after cardiac arrest,but the specific mechanisms by which hypoxia-preconditioned bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells protect against brain injury after cardiac arrest are unknown.To this end,we established an in vitro co-culture model of bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells and oxygen–glucose deprived primary neurons and found that hypoxic preconditioning enhanced the protective effect of bone marrow stromal stem cells against neuronal pyroptosis,possibly through inhibition of the MAPK and nuclear factorκB pathways.Subsequently,we transplanted hypoxia-preconditioned bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells into the lateral ventricle after the return of spontaneous circulation in an 8-minute cardiac arrest rat model induced by asphyxia.The results showed that hypoxia-preconditioned bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells significantly reduced cardiac arrest–induced neuronal pyroptosis,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial damage,whereas knockdown of the liver isoform of phosphofructokinase in bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells inhibited these effects.To conclude,hypoxia-preconditioned bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells offer a promising therapeutic approach for neuronal injury following cardiac arrest,and their beneficial effects are potentially associated with increased expression of the liver isoform of phosphofructokinase following hypoxic preconditioning.