Mechanisms of Microglia-Mediated Neurotoxicity in a New Model of the Stroke Penumbra

Abstract

After an ischemic stroke, neurons in the core are rapidly committed to die, whereas neuron death in the slowly developing penumbra is more amenable to therapeutic intervention. Microglia activation contributes to delayed inflammation, but because neurotoxic mechanisms in the penumbra are not well understood, we developed an in vitro model of microglia activation and propagated neuron killing. To recapitulate inflammatory triggers in the core, microglia were exposed to oxygen glucose-deprived neurons and astrocytes. To model the developing penumbra, the microglia were washed and allowed to interact with healthy naive neurons and astrocytes. We found that oxygen–glucose deprivation (OGD)-stressed neurons released glutamate, which activated microglia through their group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs). Microglia activation involved nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a transcription factor that promotes their proinflammatory functions. The activated microglia became neurotoxic, killing naive neurons through an apoptotic mechanism that was mediated by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and involved activation of both caspase-8 and caspase-3. In contrast to some earlier models (e.g., microglia activation by lipopolysaccharide), neurotoxicity was not decreased by an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor (S-methylisothiourea) or a peroxynitrite scavenger [5,10,15,20-tetrakis(N-methyl-4′-pyridyl)porphinato iron (III) chloride], and did not require p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. The same microglia neurotoxic behavior was evoked without exposure to OGD-stressed neurons, by directly activating microglial group II mGluRs with (2 S,2′R,3′R)-2-(2′3′-dicarboxycyclopropyl) glycine or glutamate, which stimulated production of TNF-α (not nitric oxide) and mediated TNF-α-dependent neurotoxicity through activation of NF-κB (not p38 MAPK). Together, these results support potential therapeutic strategies that target microglial group II mGluRs, TNFα overproduction, and NF-κB activation to reduce neuron death in the ischemic penumbra.