Intraperitoneal injection of IFN-? restores microglial autophagy, promotes amyloid-? clearance and improves cognition in APP/PS1 mice.
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ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a major self-degradative process that maintains cellular homeostasis and function in mammalian cells. Autophagic dysfunction occurs in the early pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and directly regulates amyloid-? (A?) metabolism. Although it has been proven that the cytokine IFN-? enhances autophagy in macrophage cell lines, whether the signaling cascade is implicated in A? degradation in AD mouse models remains to be elucidated. Here, we found that 9 days of the intraperitoneal administration of IFN-? significantly increased the LC3II/I ratio and decreased the level of p62 in APP/PS1 mice, an AD mouse model. In vitro, IFN-? protected BV2 cells from A? toxicity by upregulating the expressions of Atg7 and Atg5 and the LC3II/I ratio, whereas these protective effects were ablated by interference with Atg5 expression. Moreover, IFN-? enhanced autophagic flux, probably through suppressing the AKT/mTOR pathway both in vivo and in vitro. Importantly, using intravital two-photon microscopy and fluorescence staining, we found that microglia interacted with exogenous IFN-? and A?, and surrounded A? in APP/PS1;CX3CR1-GFP+/- mice. In addition, IFN-? treatment decreased the A? plaque load in the cortex and hippocampus and rescued cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice. Our data suggest a possible mechanism by which the peripheral injection of IFN-? restores microglial autophagy to induce the phagocytosis of cerebral A?, which represents a potential therapeutic approach for the use of exogenous IFN-? in AD.
SUBMITTER: He Z
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7280212 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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