Context: Neuroinflammation after spinal cord injury (SCI) can lead to long-term damage in neural tissue, which can cause the destruction and dysfunction of the neurological system. Roflupram (ROF), a selective phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, may play a protective role against neuropathological diseases, but the specific role of ROF in SCI treatment is unknown.
Objective: The study intended to investigate the anti-inflammatory mechanism and therapeutic effects of ROF to determine if it can attenuate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microglia that induces neuroinflammation and decrease neural-tissue damage following an SCI.
Design: The research team performed an animal study.
Setting: The study took place at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University in Harbin, China.
Animals: The animals were female C57BL/6 mice, aged 8 weeks and weighing approximately 20 g.
Intervention: For the in-vitro study, the research team divided BV2 microglial cells into three groups: (1) the control group, which received no LPS stimuli and no ROF treatment, (2) the LPS group, which received LPS stimuli but no ROF treatment, and (3) LPS+ROF group, which received both LPS stimuli and ROF treatment. For the in-vivo study, the research team randomly divided the mice into three groups: (1) the sham group, for which the team didn't induce SCI and which received no ROF treatment (2) the SCI group, for which the team induced SCI but which received no ROF treatment, and (3) the SCI+ROF group, for which the team induced SCI and which received the ROF treatment.
Outcome measures: The research team evaluated: (1) the cell viability of the BV2 microglia cells after five doses of ROF and the RNA levels of inflammatory-activation-related factors, the inflammatory pathway; (2) in-vitro inhibition of inflammation in LPS-activated microglia; (3) the anti-neuroinflammatory role of ROF after SCI induction in vitro; and (4) the role of ROF in neural-structure protection and locomotor-function recovery in vitro.
Results: In the in-vitro study, the ROF attenuated microglial inflammation through the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome in vitro, reduced neuroinflammation, and protected against neuronal loss. In the in-vivo study with mice, the ROF: (1) improved the functional recovery of locomotor skills after induction of SCI; (2) acted in an anti-inflammatory role in SCI, restraining microglial inflammation by inhibition of the "nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing-3" (NLRP3) inflammasome and reduction of caspase-1-dependent, interleukin-1 beta (IL)-1β; and (3) reduced neuronal death and protected against tissue loss, improving functional recovery after an SCI.
Conclusions: The current study demonstrated that ROF can reduce the levels of inflammation in the tissue after spinal cord injury by modulating the AMPK/NLRP3 signaling pathway, thereby promoting the recovery of motor function in mice. ROF is a promising drug for prevention of neural-tissue damage following neural injury.