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IL-6 Mediated Degeneration of Forebrain GABAergic Interneurons and Cognitive Impairment in Aged Mice through Activation of Neuronal NADPH Oxidase
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BACKGROUND: Multiple studies have shown that plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) are elevated in patients with important and prevalent adverse health conditions, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension, and frailty. Higher plasma levels of IL-6, in turn, increase the risk of many conditions associated with aging including age-related cognitive decline. However, the mechanisms underlying this association between IL-6 and cognitive vulnerability remain unclear. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We investigated the role of IL-6 in brain aging in young (4 mo) and aged (24 mo) wild-type C57BL6 and genetically-matched IL-6(-/-) mice, and determined that IL-6 was necessary and sufficient for increased neuronal expression of the superoxide-producing immune enzyme, NADPH-oxidase, and this was mediated by non-canonical NFkappaB signaling. Furthermore, superoxide production by NADPH-oxidase was directly responsible for age-related loss of parvalbumin (PV)-expressing GABAergic interneurons, neurons essential for normal information processing, encoding, and retrieval in hippocampus and cortex. Targeted deletion of IL-6 or elimination of superoxide by chronic treatment with a superoxide-dismutase mimetic prevented age-related loss of PV-interneurons and reversed age-related cognitive deficits on three standard tests of spatial learning and recall. CONCLUSIONS: Present results indicate that IL-6 mediates age-related loss of critical PV-expressing GABAergic interneurons through increased neuronal NADPH-oxidase-derived superoxide production, and that rescue of these interneurons preserves cognitive performance in aging mice, suggesting that elevated peripheral IL-6 levels may be directly and mechanistically linked to long-lasting cognitive deficits in even normal older individuals. Further, because PV-interneurons are also selectively affected by commonly used anesthetic agents and drugs, our findings imply that IL-6 levels may predict adverse CNS effects in older patients exposed to these compounds through specific derangements in inhibitory interneurons, and that therapies directed at lowering IL-6 may have cognitive benefits clinically.
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![Figure 5 IL-6-induction of Nox2 and subsequent decrease of parvalbumin and GAD67 expression in PV-positive interneurons is NFκB-dependent. Nuclear extracts of brain samples obtained from wild-type or IL-6-deficient animals were analyzed for content of the NFkB p65 subunit by colorimetric quantification of p65 using a commercially available kit (TransAM). A high concentration of p65 was found in nuclear extracts obtained from old wild type mice (a), and this was greatly diminished in nuclear extracts obtained from similar-age IL-6 deficient mice. The specificity of the binding to wild type oligonucleotide was confirmed by competition with either sense (oligo) or mutated oligonucleotides (mutant oligo). ANOVA analysis yielded a significant effect of genotype (F(1,18) = 9.414, P<0.05). (b) Application of IL-6 to neurons in culture induced Nox2 expression (b, top panel) and DHE oxidation (b, bottom panel and c) that was blocked by the NFκB inhibitor SN50. Dissociated primary neuronal cultures were treated with IL-6 (10 ng/ml) for 24 h in the absence or presence of SN50 (5 µM), an inhibitor of NFκB nuclear translocation. Dihydroethidium (DHE, 1 µg/ml) was applied for the last hour as described[18]. After fixation, cells were immunostained for Nox2. * = significant with respect to control. # = significant with respect to IL-6, F(2,346) = 12.826, P<0.05). (d. e) SN50 also prevented the decrease in expression of parvalbumin and GAD67 induced by IL-6 exposure in PV-interneurons (*F(2,409) = 234.7, P<0.05; #F(2,409) = 192.8, P<0.05).](/paper-figures/9dbd05bb2eeb4cb696e5f9bf572f4116/il-6-mediated-degeneration-of-forebrain-gabaergic-interneurons-and-cognitive-figure-5.jpg)
![Figure 6 Old IL-6-/- mice or old mice treated with the SOD mimetic, C3, exhibit preserved spatial working memory. (a) Old IL-6-/- mice show improved learning performance on the Novel Object task. Old (22 month) C57BL6 and IL-6-/- mice (on a C57B6 background) were tested for habituation to each of three novel objects, and IL-6-/- mice showed significantly better performance than wild-type mice (statistics shown in Results). (b) Barne's maze escape latency (time to find the darkened chamber) showed a statistically significant decrease in latency in old IL-6-/- mice but wild-type mice (statistics included in results section). (c) Preservation of spatial learning and memory on the Morris water maze by chronic treatment with C3. Young (6 M), old (24 M), and old-C3-treated (24 M) male mice were tested on components of the Morris water maze as previously described[27]. Graph shows performance on the probe trial component for the specific set of male mice used in the current study. Data from the probe component of the trial are shown for the immediate (1 h) recall, and delayed (24 h) recall. C3 significantly preserved performance at both time-points. Data are mean±SEM, and were analyzed by 2-Way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post-hoc test, n = 13 young, n = 10 old, n = 12 old-C3.](/paper-figures/29537ec4e2344a99950bae85e5da65fb/il-6-mediated-degeneration-of-forebrain-gabaergic-interneurons-and-cognitive-figure-6.jpg)
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“IL-6 is likely signaling through STAT3 [96].”
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Citations
Cites
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AMPK dysregulation promotes diabetes-related reduction of superoxide and mitochondrial function
Dugan, L. L., You, Y.-H., Ali, S. S., Diamond-Stanic, M. K., Miyamoto, S., Declèves, A., Andreyev, A. Y., Quach, T., Ly, S., Shekhtman, G., et al. (2013) · Journal of Clinical Investigation · doi:10.1172/jci66218 · Cited by 457
Self-citationInterleukin-6, a mental cytokine
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dugan, L. L., Ali, S. S., Shekhtman, G., Roberts, A. J., Lucero, J., Quick, K. L., & Behrens, M. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Scripps Research Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dugan, Laura L.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2009-05-13
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e5518
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2678193
- OpenAlex
- W2000833088
- Cited by
- 165
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 5.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Larry L. Hillblom Foundation
- National Institutes of Health (NS057096)
- National Institute on Aging (K25AG026379, R21AG030320, AG030320)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (P30NS057096, NS057096)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Antioxidants, Aging, Portulaca oleracea
- Keywords
- interleukin-6, brain aging, GABAergic interneurons, parvalbumin interneurons, NADPH oxidase, superoxide, non-canonical NF-κB signaling, age-related cognitive decline, neuroinflammation, superoxide dismutase mimetic, spatial learning and memory
- MeSH terms
- NADPH Oxidase 2, Aging, Animals, Cell Nucleus, Cognition, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Interneurons, Membrane Glycoproteins, Mice, Transgenic, Nerve Degeneration, Neurons, Parvalbumins, Superoxide Dismutase, Synaptosomes, Interleukin-6, Prosencephalon, NADPH Oxidases, Mice
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