RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Macrophage Transcriptional Profile Identifies Lipid Catabolic Pathways That Can Be Therapeutically Targeted after Spinal Cord Injury
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 2362
OP 2376
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2751-16.2017
VO 37
IS 9
A1 Y. Zhu
A1 K. Lyapichev
A1 D.H. Lee
A1 D. Motti
A1 N.M. Ferraro
A1 Y. Zhang
A1 S. Yahn
A1 C. Soderblom
A1 J. Zha
A1 J.R. Bethea
A1 K.L. Spiller
A1 V.P. Lemmon
A1 J.K. Lee
YR 2017
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/9/2362.abstract
AB Although infiltrating macrophages influence many pathological processes after spinal cord injury (SCI), the intrinsic molecular mechanisms that regulate their function are poorly understood. A major hurdle has been dissecting macrophage-specific functions from those in other cell types as well as understanding how their functions change over time. Therefore, we used the RiboTag method to obtain macrophage-specific mRNA directly from the injured spinal cord in mice and performed RNA sequencing to investigate their transcriptional profile. Our data show that at 7 d after SCI, macrophages are best described as foam cells, with lipid catabolism representing the main biological process, and canonical nuclear receptor pathways as their potential mediators. Genetic deletion of a lipoprotein receptor, CD36, reduces macrophage lipid content and improves lesion size and locomotor recovery. Therefore, we report the first macrophage-specific transcriptional profile after SCI and highlight the lipid catabolic pathway as an important macrophage function that can be therapeutically targeted after SCI.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The intrinsic molecular mechanisms that regulate macrophage function after spinal cord injury (SCI) are poorly understood. We obtained macrophage-specific mRNA directly from the injured spinal cord and performed RNA sequencing to investigate their transcriptional profile. Our data show that at 7 d after SCI, macrophages are best described as foam cells, with lipid catabolism representing the main biological process and canonical nuclear receptor pathways as their potential mediators. Genetic deletion of a lipoprotein receptor, CD36, reduces macrophage lipid content and improves lesion size and locomotor recovery. Therefore, we report the first macrophage-specific transcriptional profile after SCI and highlight the lipid catabolic pathway as an important macrophage function that can be therapeutically targeted after SCI.