Abstract
Enteric glial cells are more abundant than neurons in the enteric nervous system. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that enteric glial cells share many properties with astrocytes and play pivotal roles in intestinal diseases. NDRG2 is specifically expressed in astrocytes and is involved in various diseases in the central nervous system. However, no studies have demonstrated the expression of NDRG2 in enteric glial cells. We performed immunostaining of adult mouse tissue, human colon sections, and primary enteric glial cells and the results showed that NDRG2 was widely expressed in enteric glial cells. Meanwhile, our results showed that NDRG2 was upregulated after treatment with pro-inflammatory cytokines and exposure to oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation, indicating that NDRG2 might be involved in these conditions. Moreover, we determined that NDRG2 translocated to the nucleus after treatment with pro-inflammatory cytokines but not after exposure to oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation. This study is the first to show the expression and distribution of NDRG2 in the enteric glia. Our results indicate that NDRG2 might be involved in the pathogenesis of enteric inflammation and ischemia/reperfusion injury. This study shows that NDRG2 might be a molecular target for enteric nervous system diseases.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Professor Shengxi Wu (Department of Neurobiology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China) for providing assistance with technologies. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 81774113, 81974540), and the Overseas, Hong Kong & Macao Scholars Collaborative Researching Fund (Grant 81228022).
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The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 81774113, 81974540), and the Overseas, Hong Kong & Macao Scholars Collaborative Researching Fund (Grant 81228022).
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QW conceived the study. YZ, HG and SL performed most experiments and wrote the manuscript. NL, HC, YL, BC, and JM participated in cell culture and data analysis. QW revised the manuscript.
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Zhang, Y., Gao, H., Li, N. et al. NDRG2 is expressed on enteric glia and altered in conditions of inflammation and oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation. J Mol Histol 52, 101–111 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-020-09927-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-020-09927-z