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Involvement of TG ‐interacting factor in microglial activation during experimental traumatic brain injury
Author(s) -
Chio ChungChing,
Chang ChingPing,
Lin MaoTsun,
Su FangCheng,
Yang ChungZhing,
Tseng HongYu,
Liu ZiMiao,
Huang HueiSheng
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of neurochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.75
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1471-4159
pISSN - 0022-3042
DOI - 10.1111/jnc.12971
Subject(s) - traumatic brain injury , microglia , gene knockdown , neuroscience , downregulation and upregulation , medicine , cortex (anatomy) , transforming growth factor , pathology , biology , inflammation , cell culture , biochemistry , psychiatry , gene , genetics
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury involving several physiological alterations, potentially leading to neurological impairment. Previous mouse studies using high‐density oligonucleotide array analysis have confirmed the upregulation of transforming growth‐interacting factor (TGIF) mRNA in TBI. TGIF is a transcriptional corepressor of transforming growth factor beta (TGF‐β) signaling which plays a protective role in TBI. However, the functional roles of TGIF in TBI are not well understood. In this study, we used confocal microscopy after immunofluorescence staining to demonstrate the increase of TGIF levels in the activated microglia of the pericontusional cortex of rats with TBI. Intracerebral knockdown of TGIF in the pericontusional cortex significantly downregulated TGIF expression, attenuated microglial activation, reduced the volume of damaged brain tissue, and facilitated recovery of limb motor function. Collectively, our results indicate that TGIF is involved in TBI‐induced microglial activation, resulting in secondary brain injury and motor dysfunction.This study investigated the roles of transforming growth‐interacting factor (TGIF) in a traumatic brain injury (TBI)‐rat model. We demonstrated the increase of TGIF levels in the activated microglia of the pericontusional cortex of rats with TBI. Intracerebral knockdown of TGIF in the pericontusional cortex of the TBI rats significantly attenuated micoglial activation, reduced the volume of damaged brain tissue, and facilitated recovery of limb motor function. We suggest that inhibition of TGIF might provide a promising therapeutic strategy for TBI.