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Photobiomodulation Increases M2-Type Polarization of Macrophages by Inhibiting Versican Production After Spinal Cord Injury

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Abstract

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a catastrophic accidence with little effective treatment, and inflammation played an important role in that. Previous studies showed photobiomodulation (PBM) could effectively downregulate the process of inflammation with modification of macrophage polarization after SCI; however, the potential mechanism behind that is still unclear. In the presented study, we aimed to investigate the effect of PBM on the expression level of versican, a matrix molecular believed to be associated with inflammation, and tried to find the mechanism on how that could regulate the inflammation process. Using immunofluorescence technique and western blot, we found the expression level of versican is increased after injury and markedly downregulated by irradiation treatment. Using virus intrathecal injection, we found the knock-down of versican could produce the effect similar to that of PBM and might have an effect on inflammation and macrophage polarization after SCI. To further verify the deduction, we peptide the supernatant of astrocytes to induce M0, M1, and M2 macrophages. We found that the versican produced by astrocytes might have a role on the promotion of M2 macrophages to inflammatory polarization. Finally, we investigated the potential pathway in the regulation of M2 polarization with the induction of versican. This study tried to give an interpretation on the mechanism of inflammation inhibition for PBM in the perspective of matrix regulation. Our results might provide light on the inflammation regulation after SCI.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 81070996, NO. 81572151) and Shaanxi Provincial Key R&D Program (NO. 2020ZDLSF02-05, NO. 2021ZDLSF02-10).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang, 110000, Liaoning Province, China

    Zhi-Hao Zhang

  2. Department of Orthopedics, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, Shaanxi Province, China

    Zhi-Hao Zhang, Ting-Yu Wu, Cheng Ju, Xiao-Shuang Zuo, Xuan-Kang Wang, Yang-Guang Ma, Liang Luo, Zhi-Jie Zhu, Zhi-Wen Song, Zhou Yao, Jie Zhou, Zhe Wang & Xue-Yu Hu

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Zhi-Hao Zhang, Ting-Yu Wu, and Cheng Ju conceived the idea of manuscript, Zhi-Hao Zhang and Ting-Yu Wu designed the study. Xiao-Shuang Zuo, Xuan-Kang Wang, Yang-Guang Ma, and Liang Luo performed the in vitro experiments. Zhi-Jie Zhu, Zhi-Wen Song, and Zhou Yao performed the in vivo experiment. Jie Zhou, Zhi-Hao Zhang, and Ting-Yu Wu wrote the manuscript. Zhe Wang and Xue-Yu Hu revised the manuscript and provided guidance for the project.

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Correspondence to Zhe Wang or Xue-Yu Hu.

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The design and conduct of this study were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institutional Ethical Committee of Air Force Military Medical University guidelines (Xi'an, China) (IACUC, 20210452, date: 03–01-2021). Animal experiments for this study were performed in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Research Council, 1996) established by the National Institutes of Health.

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Zhi-Hao Zhang, Ting-Yu Wu, and Cheng Ju contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

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Zhang, ZH., Wu, TY., Ju, C. et al. Photobiomodulation Increases M2-Type Polarization of Macrophages by Inhibiting Versican Production After Spinal Cord Injury. Mol Neurobiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-024-03980-5

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