Neuroinflammation is an important feature in the pathogenesis and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer´s disease (AD), Parkinson´s disease (PD), frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Based on current knowledge in the field, suggesting that targeting peripheral inflammation could be a promising additional treatment/prevention approach for neurodegenerative diseases, drugs and natural products with anti-inflammatory properties have been evaluated in animal models of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. In this review, we provide an extensive analysis of one of the most important and widely-used animal models of peripherally induced neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration - lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mice, and address the data reproducibility in published research. We also summarize briefly basic features of various natural products, nutraceuticals, with known anti-inflammatory effects and present an overview of data on their therapeutic potential for reducing neuroinflammation in LPS-treated mice.

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BackgroundNeuroinflammation (NI) is a key feature in the pathogenesis and progression of infectious and non-infectious neuropathologies, and its amelioration usually improves the patient outcome. Peripheral inflammation may promote NI through microglia and astrocytes activation, an increased expression of inflammatory mediators and vascular permeability that may lead to neurodegeneration. Several anti-inflammatory strategies have been proposed to control peripheral inflammation. Among them, electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve (VNS) recently emerged as an alternative to effectively attenuate peripheral inflammation in a variety of pathological conditions with few side effects.Considering that NI underlies several neurologic pathologies we explored herein the possibility that electrically VNS can also exert anti-inflammatory effects in the brain.MethodsNI was experimentally induced by intraperitoneal injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in C57BL/6 male mice; VNS with constant voltage (5 Hz, 0.75 mA, 2 ms) was applied for 30 s, 48 or 72 h after lipopolysaccharide injection. Twenty four hours later, pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα) levels were measured by ELISA in brain and spleen extracts and total brain cells were isolated and microglia and macrophage proliferation and activation was assessed by flow cytometry. The level of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule (Iba-1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were estimated in whole brain extracts and in histologic slides by Western blot and immunohistochemistry, respectively.ResultsVNS significantly reduced the central levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the percentage of microglia (CD11b/CD45low) and macrophages (CD11b/CD45high), 24 h after the electrical stimulus in LPS stimulated mice. A significantly reduced level of Iba-1 expression was also observed in whole brain extracts and in the hippocampus, suggesting a reduction in activated microglia.ConclusionsVNS is a feasible therapeutic tool to attenuate the NI reaction. Considering that NI accompanies different neuropathologies VNS is a relevant alternative to modulate NI, of particular interest for chronic neurological diseases.

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Extracellular and intraneuronal accumulation of amyloid-beta aggregates has been demonstrated to be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the precise mechanism of amyloid-beta neurotoxicity is not completely understood. Previous studies suggest that binding of amyloid-beta to a number of macromolecules has deleterious effects on cellular functions. Mitochondria were found to be the target for amyloid-beta, and mitochondrial dysfunction is well documented in AD. In the present study we have shown for the first time that Aβ 1–42 bound to a peptide comprising the amino-terminal region of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1. Phage clone, selected after screening of a human brain cDNA library expressed on M13 phage and bearing a 61 amino acid fragment of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, bound to Aβ 1–42 in ELISA as well as to Aβ aggregates present in AD brain. Aβ 1–42 and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 co-immunoprecipitated from mitochondrial fraction of differentiated human neuroblastoma cells. Likewise, molecular dynamics simulation of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and the Aβ 1–42 peptide complex resulted in a reliable helix-helix interaction, supporting the experimental results. The interaction between Aβ 1–42 and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 may explain, in part, the diminished enzymatic activity of respiratory chain complex IV and subsequent neuronal metabolic dysfunction observed in AD.