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Rho-Associated Kinase Inhibitors Promote Microglial Uptake Via the ERK Signaling Pathway

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Abstract

Microglia are immunocompetent cells in the central nervous system that take up tissue debris and pathogens. Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) has been identified as an important regulator of uptake, proliferation, secretion, and differentiation in a number of cell types. Although ROCK plays critical roles in the microglial secretion of inflammatory factors, migration, and morphology, its effects on microglial uptake activity have not been well characterized. In the present study, we found that treatment of BV2 microglia and primary microglia with the ROCK inhibitors Y27632 and fasudil increased uptake activity and was associated with morphological changes. Furthermore, western blots showed that this increase in uptake activity was mediated through the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling cascade, indicating the importance of ROCK in regulating microglial uptake activity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81471200 and 81000521), and the National Basic Research Development Program of China (2011CB504403).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Peicai Fu, Ronghua Tang, Zhiyuan Yu, Caihong Li, Xue Chen, Minjie Xie, Wei Wang & Xiang Luo

  2. Key Laboratory of Neurological Diseases (HUST), Ministry of Education of China, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Zhiyuan Yu, Minjie Xie & Wei Wang

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  1. Peicai Fu
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  2. Ronghua Tang
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  3. Zhiyuan Yu
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Correspondence to Xiang Luo.

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Fu, P., Tang, R., Yu, Z. et al. Rho-Associated Kinase Inhibitors Promote Microglial Uptake Via the ERK Signaling Pathway. Neurosci. Bull. 32, 83–91 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-016-0013-1

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