Dynamic changes in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in microglia after PPAR-gamma agonist neuroprotective treatment in the MPTPp mouse model of progressive Parkinson's disease

Neuroinflammatory changes play a pivotal role in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD) pathogenesis. Recent findings have suggested that activated microglia may polarize similarly to peripheral macrophages in the central nervous system (CNS), assuming a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype or the alternative anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype via cytokine production. A skewed M1 activation over M2 has been related to disease progression in Alzheimer disease, and modulation of microglia polarization may be a therapeutic target for neuroprotection. By using the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-probenecid (MPTPp) mouse model of progressive PD, we investigated dynamic changes in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1 beta, and anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and IL-10, within lba-1-positive cells in the substantia nigra compacta (SNc). In addition, to further characterize changes in the M2 phenotype, we measured CD206 in microglia. Moreover, in order to target microglia polarization, we evaluated the effect of the peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma agonist rosiglitazone, which has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects on nigral dopaminergic neurons in PD models, and acts as a modulator of cytokine production and phenotype in peripheral macrophages.