ePoster

Microglia-specific circadian rhythm disruption leads to an altered inflammatory profile and increased susceptibility to seizures

Tammy Strickland, Radharani Benvenutti, Yiyue Jiang, Melissa Alves Braga de Oliveira, Mona Heiland, Annie Curtis, David Henshall, Cristina R Reschke
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Tammy Strickland, Radharani Benvenutti, Yiyue Jiang, Melissa Alves Braga de Oliveira, Mona Heiland, Annie Curtis, David Henshall, Cristina R Reschke

Abstract

Background: Epilepsy and seizures occurrence are closely interwoven with brain inflammation. The inflammatory response is largely mediated by microglia, which are under strong circadian regulation. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour variations in physiological function orchestrated by a network of autoregulatory genes, including its key component, Bmal1. Here we explored the impact of Bmal1 knock down in microglial cells on seizure susceptibility and the CNS-immune profile.Methods: Forty young adult Bmal1-Cx3CR1Cre-ER mice were injected with either tamoxifen (40 mg/kg; IP; daily for 10 days) to induce microglial-specific Bmal1 knock-down (Bmal1-KD) or vehicle (controls). A subset of this cohort was implanted with electrodes for electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings and underwent an injection of a low dose of kainic acid (KA; IP; 15 mg/kg) to test seizure susceptibility. Naïve and KA hippocampi were extracted and analysed by qPCR and semi-quantitative cytokine array immunoblotting.Results: Microglial Bmal1-KDs were more susceptibility to develop seizures (136.7s ± 27.49s) in comparison to controls (onset 592.7s ± 139.7s; P<0.0001) and displayed a significantly increased seizure severity measured by total EEG power (P<0.0002). Pro-inflammatory cytokine HMGB1 was significantly upregulated at baseline in Bmal1-KDs, while HMGB1 (P<0.05), iNOS, TNF-α and TNFRII (P<0.01) were significantly upregulated in Bmal1-KDs compared with controls as early as 30 minutes after KA administration. Interestingly, G-CSF was significantly upregulated and IL-1α downregulated at the protein level post-KA in Bmal1-KDs compared to controls. Conclusions: Microglial-specific depletion of Bmal1 led to a disrupted electrophysiological and immune phenotype in otherwise healthy mice. Future studies will examine how these mice develop epilepsy.

Unique ID: fens-24/microglia-specific-circadian-rhythm-2fe613ae