摘要
Neuroinflammation exacerbates secondary damage after spinal cord injury,while microglia/macrophage pyroptosis is important to neuroinflammation.Circular RNAs(circRNAs)play a role in the central nervous system.However,the functional role and mechanism of circRNAs in regulating microglia/macrophage pyroptosis after spinal cord injury are still poorly studied.In the present study,we detected microglia/macrophage pyroptosis in a female rat model of spinal cord injury,along with upregulated levels of circ0000381 in the spinal cord.Our further experimental results suggest that circ0000381 may function as a sponge to sequester endogenous microRNA423-3p(miR-423-3p),which can increase the expression of NOD-like receptor 3(NLRP3),a pyroptosis marker.Therefore,upregulation of circ0000381 may be a compensatory change after spinal cord injury to attenuate microglia/macrophage pyroptosis.Indeed,knockdown of circ0000381 expression exacerbated microglia/macrophage pyroptosis.Collectively,our findings provide novel evidence for the upregulation of circ0000381,which may serve as a neuroprotective mechanism to attenuate microglia/macrophage pyroptosis after spinal cord injury.Accordingly,circ0000381 may be a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of spinal cord injury.
基金
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.81901241(to YZ)。
