Abstract
Chemical genetics is a new field of study that employs diverse small-molecule compounds to interrogate specific biological functions. The chemical genetics approach has been recently applied to microglial biology. Microglial cells are the primary immune cells of the brain, and are believed to play a major role in both host defense and tissue repair in the central nervous system. However, excessive microglial activation with overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress products is linked to the progression of several neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, suppression of microglial activation and subsequent neuroinflammation may be a potential therapeutic approach against these diseases. From microglia cell-based assays, the natural compound obovatol and several synthetic compounds were identified as inhibitors of microglial activation. They showed strong anti-neuroinflammatory activities in various in vitro and in vivo studies. Nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways were found to be related to the effects of these compounds on microglia. In particular, based on the affinity purification approach, peroxiredoxin 2 was identified as a microglial target of obovatol. Thus, natural and synthetic compounds are not only important biological tools for the study of microglial physiology and pathology, but they are also attractive candidates for the development of therapeutic drugs against neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.
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Abbreviations
- CNS:
-
Central nervous system
- NO:
-
Nitric oxide
- LPS:
-
Lipopolysaccharide
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- TNF-α:
-
Tumor necrosis factor alpha
- IL-1β:
-
Interleukin 1 beta
- iNOS:
-
Inducible nitric-oxide synthase
- MAPK:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinase
- ERK:
-
Extracellular signal-regulated kinases
- JNK:
-
c-Jun N-terminal kinase
- NF-κB:
-
Nuclear factor kappa B
- IB4:
-
Isolectin B4
- MCP-1:
-
Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1
- MIP-1α:
-
Macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha
- LC–MS/MS:
-
Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry
- Prx2:
-
Peroxiredoxin 2
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Acknowledgments
The authors’ laboratory was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) of Korean government (No. 2009-0078941). This work was also supported by Basic Science Research Program through the NRF funded by the MEST (No. 2010-0029460).
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Suk, K., Ock, J. Chemical genetics of neuroinflammation: natural and synthetic compounds as microglial inhibitors. Inflammopharmacol 20, 151–158 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-011-0108-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-011-0108-2