Role of Inflammasomes in Inducing Neuroinflammation in Spinal Cord Injury / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

ABSTRACT

Treatment and rehabilitation of spinal cord injury has been a major problem in the medical field‚ and little progress has been achieved in the improvement of neuronal function following injury. Secondary damage is the main cause of neurological dysfunction after spinal cord injury‚ and inflammation is the most important pathological process in the secondary injury stage. In the acute phase‚ it is believed that the reduction of secondary damage by inhibiting neuroinflammation can reduce the damage of nerve function and achieve neuroprotection. The inflammasome is a type of protein complex‚ which is assembled and named by the receptor proteins of the NLRs family and the PHYIN family of pattern recognition receptors as the main framework. Common inflammasomes include NLRP1‚ NLRP3‚ NLRC4 (IPAF)‚ and AIM2 etc. When infected or stimulated by injury‚ inflammasomes assemble in the cytoplasm and activate the pro-inflammatory protease caspase-1. Activated caspase-1 promotes the maturation and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18 on the one hand‚ and mediates pyroptosis on the other hand. Pyroptosis is a way of programmed cell death induced under pathological conditions of inflammation and stress. Cell swelling and rupture and the release of cell contents are its main characteristics. Both pro-inflammatory cytokines and intracellular substances released by pyroptosis can be used as pro-inflammatory signals to trigger an inflammatory response. Recently‚ it has been discovered that inflammasomes participate in the activation of the inflammatory cascade after spinal cord injury by inducing the release of pro-inflammatory factors and mediating pyroptosis‚ and then aggravate secondary neuroinflammation. Targeted inhibition of the activation of inflammasomes can reduce the inflammatory response‚ promote the survival of nerve cells‚ and achieve neuroprotective effects. Therefore‚ the inflammasome is expected to become a new target for the treatment of spinal cord injury. This article reviewed the structure of the inflammasome and its role in spinal cord injury‚ activation mechanism and treatment‚ which may provide ideas for the follow-up research.