Neuron-specific mitochondrial oxidative stress results in epilepsy, glucose dysregulation and a striking astrocyte response.

Mitochondrial superoxide (O2-) production is implicated in aging, neurodegenerative disease, and most recently epilepsy. Yet the specific contribution of neuronal O2- to these phenomena is unclear. Here, we selectively deleted superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD2) in neuronal basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor (NEX)-expressing cells restricting deletion to a subset of excitatory principle neurons primarily in the forebrain (cortex and hippocampus). This resulted in nSOD2 KO mice that lived into adulthood (2-3 months) with epilepsy, selective loss of neurons, metabolic rewiring and a marked mitohormetic gene response. Surprisingly, expression of an astrocytic gene, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was significantly increased relative to WT. Further studies in rat primary neuron-glial cultures showed that increased mitochondrial O2-, specifically in neurons, was sufficient to upregulate GFAP. These results suggest that neuron-specific mitochondrial O2- is sufficient to drive a complex and catastrophic epileptic phenotype and highlights the ability of SOD2 to act in a cell-nonautonomous manner to influence an astrocytic response.

Morphine paradoxically prolongs neuropathic pain in rats by amplifying spinal NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Opioid use for pain management has dramatically increased, with little assessment of potential pathophysiological consequences for the primary pain condition. Here, a short course of morphine, starting 10 d after injury in male rats, paradoxically and remarkably doubled the duration of chronic constriction injury (CCI)-allodynia, months after morphine ceased. No such effect of opioids on neuropathic pain has previously been reported. Using pharmacologic and genetic approaches, we discovered that the initiation and maintenance of this multimonth prolongation of neuropathic pain was mediated by a previously unidentified mechanism for spinal cord and pain-namely, morphine-induced spinal NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasomes and associated release of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß). As spinal dorsal horn microglia expressed this signaling platform, these cells were selectively inhibited in vivo after transfection with a novel Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD). Multiday treatment with the DREADD-specific ligand clozapine-N-oxide prevented and enduringly reversed morphine-induced persistent sensitization for weeks to months after cessation of clozapine-N-oxide. These data demonstrate both the critical importance of microglia and that maintenance of chronic pain created by early exposure to opioids can be disrupted, resetting pain to normal. These data also provide strong support for the recent "two-hit hypothesis" of microglial priming, leading to exaggerated reactivity after the second challenge, documented here in the context of nerve injury followed by morphine. This study predicts that prolonged pain is an unrealized and clinically concerning consequence of the abundant use of opioids in chronic pain.

Innate immune signaling in the ventral tegmental area contributes to drug-primed reinstatement of cocaine seeking.

Cocaine addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by persistent perturbations to an organism's homeostatic processes that result in maladaptive drug seeking. Although considerable attention has been directed at the consequences of neuronal changes following chronic cocaine taking, few studies have examined the role of microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, following chronic cocaine administration. Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) is a molecular pattern receptor that recognizes pathogens, danger signals, and xenobiotics and induces proinflammatory signaling in the central nervous system. TLR4 is generally considered to be expressed primarily by microglia. Here, we used a rodent model of cocaine addiction to investigate the role of TLR4 in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in cocaine seeking. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to self-administer cocaine in daily 2-h sessions for 15days. Following self-administration, rats underwent extinction training and were tested in a drug-primed reinstatement paradigm. Pharmacological antagonism of TLR4 in the VTA using lipopolysaccharide from the bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides (LPS-RS) significantly reduced cocaine-primed reinstatement of drug seeking but had no effect on sucrose seeking. TLR4 activation within the VTA using the TLR4 activator, lipopolysaccharide, was sufficient to moderately reinstate cocaine seeking. We also assessed changes in proinflammatory cytokine expression in the VTA following cocaine self-administration. Cocaine self-administration increased the expression of mRNA for the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1ß, but not tumor necrosis factor alpha, in the VTA. Pharmacological antagonism of the interleukin-1 receptor in the VTA reduced cocaine-primed drug seeking. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that chronic cocaine produces inflammatory signaling that contributes to cocaine seeking.

Increasing glutathione levels by a novel posttranslational mechanism inhibits neuronal hyperexcitability.

Glutathione (GSH) depletion, and impaired redox homeostasis have been observed in experimental animal models and patients with epilepsy. Pleiotropic strategies that elevate GSH levels via transcriptional regulation have been shown to significantly decrease oxidative stress and seizure frequency, increase seizure threshold, and rescue certain cognitive deficits. Whether elevation of GSH per se alters neuronal hyperexcitability remains unanswered. We previously showed that thiols such as dimercaprol (DMP) elevate GSH via post-translational activation of glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL), the rate limiting GSH biosynthetic enzyme. Here, we asked if elevation of cellular GSH by DMP altered neuronal hyperexcitability in-vitro and in-vivo. Treatment of primary neuronal-glial cerebrocortical cultures with DMP elevated GSH and inhibited a voltage-gated potassium channel blocker (4-aminopyridine, 4AP) induced neuronal hyperexcitability. DMP increased GSH in wildtype (WT) zebrafish larvae and significantly attenuated convulsant pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced acute 'seizure-like' swim behavior. DMP treatment increased GSH and inhibited convulsive, spontaneous 'seizure-like' swim behavior in the Dravet Syndrome (DS) zebrafish larvae (scn1Lab). Furthermore, DMP treatment significantly decreased spontaneous electrographic seizures and associated seizure parameters in scn1Lab zebrafish larvae. We investigated the role of the redox-sensitive mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway due to the presence of several cysteine-rich proteins and their involvement in regulating neuronal excitability. Treatment of primary neuronal-glial cerebrocortical cultures with 4AP or l-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO), an irreversible inhibitor of GSH biosynthesis, significantly increased mTOR complex I (mTORC1) activity which was rescued by pre-treatment with DMP. Furthermore, BSO-mediated GSH depletion oxidatively modified the tuberous sclerosis protein complex (TSC) consisting of hamartin (TSC1), tuberin (TSC2), and TBC1 domain family member 7 (TBC1D7) which are critical negative regulators of mTORC1. In summary, our results suggest that DMP-mediated GSH elevation by a novel post-translational mechanism can inhibit neuronal hyperexcitability both in-vitro and in-vivo and a plausible link is the redox sensitive mTORC1 pathway.

Crosstalk between neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in epilepsy.

The roles of both neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of epilepsy have begun to receive considerable attention in recent years. However, these concepts are predominantly studied as separate entities despite the evidence that neuroinflammatory and redox-based signaling cascades have significant crosstalk. Oxidative post-translational modifications have been demonstrated to directly influence the function of key neuroinflammatory mediators. Neuroinflammation can further be controlled on the transcriptional level as the transcriptional regulators NF-KB and nrf2 are activated by reactive oxygen species. Further, neuroinflammation can induce the increased expression and activity of NADPH oxidase, leading to a highly oxidative environment. These factors additionally influence mitochondria function and the metabolic status of neurons and glia, which are already metabolically stressed in epilepsy. Given the implication of this relationship to disease pathology, this review explores the numerous mechanisms by which neuroinflammation and oxidative stress influence one another in the context of epilepsy. We further examine the efficacy of treatments targeting oxidative stress and redox regulation in animal and human epilepsies in the literature that warrant further investigation. Treatment approaches aimed at rectifying oxidative stress and aberrant redox signaling may enable control of neuroinflammation and improve patient outcomes.

Oxycodone, fentanyl, and morphine amplify established neuropathic pain in male rats.

Opioids are widely prescribed for chronic pain, including neuropathic pain, despite growing evidence of long-term harm. Previous preclinical studies have documented exacerbation of nociceptive hypersensitivity, including that induced by peripheral nerve injury, by morphine. The present series of behavioral studies sought to replicate and extend our prior research, which demonstrated a multimonth exacerbation of nociceptive hypersensitivity by a 5-day course of morphine initiated 10 days after nerve injury. The current studies demonstrate that enduring exacerbation of nociceptive hypersensitivity is not restricted to morphine, but rather is also created by the clinically relevant opioids fentanyl and oxycodone when these are likewise administered for 5 days beginning 10 days after nerve injury. Furthermore, enduring exacerbation of nociceptive hypersensitivity is also observed when the same dosing regimen for either morphine, fentanyl, or oxycodone begins 1 month after nerve injury. Finally, a striking result from these studies is that no such exacerbation of nociceptive hypersensitivity occurs when either morphine, fentanyl, or oxycodone dosing begins at the time of nerve injury. These results extend our previous findings that morphine exacerbates nociceptive hypersensitivity to the clinically relevant opioids fentanyl and oxycodone when administered after the development of nociceptive hypersensitivity, while also providing possible clinically relevant insight into when these opioids can be safely administered and not exacerbate neuropathic pain.

Methamphetamine Activates Toll-Like Receptor 4 to Induce Central Immune Signaling within the Ventral Tegmental Area and Contributes to Extracellular Dopamine Increase in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a globally abused, highly addictive stimulant. While investigations of the rewarding and motivational effects of METH have focused on neuronal actions, increasing evidence suggests that METH can also target microglia, the innate immune cells of the central nervous system, causing release of proinflammatory mediators and therefore amplifying the reward changes in the neuronal activity induced by METH. However, how METH induces neuroinflammatory responses within the central nervous system (CNS) is unknown. Herein, we provide direct evidence that METH creates neuroinflammation, at least in part, via the activation of the innate immune Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Biophysical studies revealed that METH bound to MD-2, the key coreceptor of TLR4. Molecular dynamics simulations showed METH binding stabilized the active heterotetramer (TLR4/MD-2)2 conformation. Classic TLR4 antagonists LPS-RS and TAK-242 attenuated METH induced NF-κB activation of microglia, whereas added MD-2 protein boosted METH-induced NF-κB activation. Systemically administered METH (1 mg/kg) was found to specifically up-regulate expression of both CD11b (microglial activation marker) and the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) mRNAs in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), but not in either the nucleus accumbens shell (NAc) or prefrontal cortex (PFC). Systemic administration of a nonopioid, blood-brain barrier permeable TLR4 antagonist (+)-naloxone inhibited METH-induced activation of microglia and IL-6 mRNA overexpression in VTA. METH was found to increase conditioned place preference (CPP) as well as extracellular dopamine concentrations in the NAc, with both effects suppressed by the nonopioid TLR4 antagonist (+)-naloxone. Furthermore, intra-VTA injection of LPS-RS or IL-6 neutralizing antibody suppressed METH-induced elevation of extracellular NAc dopamine. Taken together, this series of studies demonstrate that METH-induced neuroinflammation is, at least in part, mediated by TLR4-IL6 signaling within the VTA, which has the downstream effect of elevating dopamine in the NAc shell. These results provide a novel understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying acute METH reward that includes a critical role for central immune signaling and offers a new target for medication development for treating drug abuse.

Prior voluntary wheel running attenuates neuropathic pain.

Exercise is known to exert a systemic anti-inflammatory influence, but whether its effects are sufficient to protect against subsequent neuropathic pain is underinvestigated. We report that 6 weeks of voluntary wheel running terminating before chronic constriction injury (CCI) prevented the full development of allodynia for the ∼3-month duration of the injury. Neuroimmune signaling was assessed at 3 and 14 days after CCI. Prior exercise normalized ipsilateral dorsal spinal cord expression of neuroexcitatory interleukin (IL)-1ß production and the attendant glutamate transporter GLT-1 decrease, as well as expression of the disinhibitory P2X4R-BDNF axis. The expression of the macrophage marker Iba1 and the chemokine CCL2 (MCP-1), and a neuronal injury marker (activating transcription factor 3), was attenuated by prior running in the ipsilateral lumbar dorsal root ganglia. Prior exercise suppressed macrophage infiltration and/or injury site proliferation, given decreased presence of macrophage markers Iba1, iNOS (M1), and Arg-1 (M2; expression was time dependent). Chronic constriction injury-driven increases in serum proinflammatory chemokines were suppressed by prior running, whereas IL-10 was increased. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were also stimulated with lipopolysaccharide ex vivo, wherein CCI-induced increases in IL-1ß, nitrite, and IL-10 were suppressed by prior exercise. Last, unrestricted voluntary wheel running, beginning either the day of, or 2 weeks after, CCI, progressively reversed neuropathic pain. This study is the first to investigate the behavioral and neuroimmune consequences of regular exercise terminating before nerve injury. This study suggests that chronic pain should be considered a component of "the diseasome of physical inactivity," and that an active lifestyle may prevent neuropathic pain.