Cited by 563Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Interleukin-1 Mediates Pathological Effects of Microglia on Tau Phosphorylation and on Synaptophysin Synthesis in Cortical Neurons through a p38-MAPK Pathway

Open access
Li, Yuekui, Liu, Ling, Barger, Steven W., Griffin, W. Sue T.·2003·The Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

The presence of tangles of abnormally phosphorylated tau is a characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the loss of synapses correlates with the degree of dementia. In addition, the overexpression of interleukin-1 (IL-1) has been implicated in tangle formation in AD. As a direct test of the requirement for IL-1 in tau phosphorylation and synaptophysin expression, IL-1 actions in neuron–microglia cocultures were manipulated. Activation of microglia with secreted β-amyloid precursor protein or lipopolysaccharide elevated their expression of IL-1α, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) mRNA. When such activated microglia were placed in coculture with primary neocortical neurons, a significant increase in the phosphorylation of neuronal tau was accompanied by a decline in synaptophysin levels. Similar effects were evoked by treatment of neurons with recombinant IL-1β. IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) as well as anti-IL-1β antibody attenuated the influence of activated microglia on neuronal tau and synaptophysin, but anti-TNFα antibody was ineffective. Some effects of microglial activation on neurons appear to be mediated by activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK), because activated microglia stimulated p38-MAPK phosphorylation in neurons, and an inhibitor of p38-MAPK reversed the influence of IL-1β on tau phosphorylation and synaptophysin levels. Our results, together with previous observations, suggest that activated microglia may contribute to neurofibrillary pathology in AD through their production of IL-1, activation of neuronal p38-MAPK, and resultant changes in neuronal cytoskeletal and synaptic elements.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.23-05-01605.2003

Cites

35 of 35 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In neurons, p38α MAPK has been shown to act as an important kinase in inducing IL-1β-mediated hyperphosphorylation of tau.

    “Second, in neurons, p38α MAPK has been shown to act as an important kinase in inducing IL-1β-mediated hyperphosphorylation of tau [24, 61].”

    From Selective suppression of the α isoform of p38 MAPK rescues late-stage tau pathology (2016) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Results and Figure 8 report that IL-1β activated p38-MAPK in cortical neurons and that a p38-MAPK inhibitor suppressed IL-1β-induced tau phosphorylation. The paper identifies the kinase as p38-MAPK, but does not establish that the α isoform specifically mediates the effect. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Neocortical neurons pretreated with SB203580 and then treated with interleukin-1β showed significantly reduced tau phosphorylation and restored synaptophysin levels.

    “This is consistent with a previous in vitro study in which neocortical neurons pretreated with the popular-mixed kinase inhibitor SB203580 and then treated with interleukin-1β (IL-1β) showed significantly reduced tau phosphorylation and restored synaptophysin levels [24].”
  • IL-1β treatment or overexpression exacerbates tau phosphorylation through activation of p38 MAPK and/or GSK-3β in neuron-microglia co-cultures and AD model mice.

    “IL-1β treatment or overexpression exacerbates tau phosphorylation through the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and/or glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) in neuron–microglia co-cultures [161] and AD model mice [162, 163].”
  • Activated microglia secrete IL-1β that is critical for enhancing inflammation and prompting neuronal damage via kinase transduction pathways in vitro.

    “This demonstrates that activated microglia secrete IL-1β that is critical for enhancing inflammation and prompting neuronal damage via kinase transduction pathways in vitro.”

    From Glial contributions to neurodegeneration in tauopathies (2017) · cites this paper as [132]

  • IL-1 receptor signalling plays a key role in neuroinflammation-induced tau phosphorylation by enhancing the activity of tau kinases including CDK5/p25, GSK3β, and p38-MAPK.

    “IL-1 receptor signalling is found to play a key role in neuroinflammation-induced tau phosphorylation by enhancing the activity of tau kinases including cyclin-dependent-like kinase 5/p25 (CDK5/p25), glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK)60,61.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Li, Y., Liu, L., Barger, S. W., & Griffin, W. S. T.
Affiliations
United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2003-03-01
Volume
23
Issue
5
Pages
1605-1611
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W2096158347
Cited by
563
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 29
FWCI
10.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Donald W. Reynolds Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (AG12411)
  • National Institute on Aging (AG 12411, P01AG012411)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
interleukin-1, microglia, tau phosphorylation, synaptophysin, p38 MAPK, Alzheimer's disease, neurofibrillary tangles, synaptic loss, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, TNF-α, amyloid precursor protein, lipopolysaccharide, cortical neurons, neuroinflammation
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Communication, Cells, Cultured, Cerebral Cortex, Interleukin-1, Lipopolysaccharides, Neurons, Phosphorylation, Sialoglycoproteins, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Signal Transduction, Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor, Synaptophysin, tau Proteins, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Microglia, Neuroprotective Agents, Coculture Techniques, Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, Mice, Rats, Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review