P-Glycoprotein Exacerbates Brain Injury Following Experimental Cerebral Ischemia by Promoting Proinflammatory Microglia Activation

Abstract

Microglia are activated following cerebral ischemic insult. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is an efflux transporter on microvascular endothelial cells and upregulated after cerebral ischemia. This study evaluated the effects and possible mechanisms of P-gp on microglial polarization/activation in mice after ischemic stroke. P-gp-specific siRNA and adeno-associated virus (p-AAV) were used to silence and overexpress P-gp, respectively. Middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) and oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) were performed in mice and cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (bEnd.3) in vitro, respectively. OGD/R-injured bEnd.3 cells were cocultured with mouse microglial cells (BV2) in Transwell. Influences on acute ischemic stroke outcome, the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and chemokines and chemokines receptors, microglial polarization, glucocorticoid receptor (GR) nuclear translocation, and GR-mediated mRNA decay (GMD) activation were evaluated via reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, or immunofluorescence. Silencing P-gp markedly alleviated experimental ischemia injury as indicated by reduced cerebral infarct size, improved neurological deficits, and reduced the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-12 expression. Silencing P-gp also mitigated proinflammatory microglial polarization and the expression of C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and its receptor CCR2 expression, whereas promoted anti-inflammatory microglia polarization. Additionally, P-gp silencing promoted GR nuclear translocation and the expression of GMD relative proteins in endothelial cells. Conversely, overexpressing P-gp via p-AAV transfection offset all these effects. Furthermore, silencing endothelial GR counteracted all effects mediated by silencing or overexpressing P-gp. Elevated P-gp expression aggravated inflammatory response and brain damage after ischemic stroke by augmenting proinflammatory microglial polarization in association with increased endothelial CCL2 release due to GMD inhibition by P-gp.