Background
Micro (mi) RNAs regulate expression of multiple genes by promoting degradation of mRNA or by preventing translation of target genes. It has recently been reported that high levels of the miRNA miR-124 are present in resident microglia in brain and spinal cord. Ponomarev
et al. showed that microglia activated
in vitro and
in vivo have low levels of miR-124. In addition, peripheral macrophages, which have an activated phenotype, express low levels of miR-124 compared with isolated naive microglia from brain and spinal cord. Based on such findings, it has been suggested that high levels of miR-124 are required to keep microglia in a quiescent state [
1].
Microglia/macrophages in the spinal cord play a key role in the development of chronic pain in rodent models of neuropathic pain, diabetic neuropathy, and chronic inflammatory pain [
2‐
7]. However, it is not known whether microglial miR-124 contributes to chronic pain.
Recently, we reported that chronic inflammatory hyperalgesia and neuropathic pain are associated with decreased levels of the serine–threonine kinase G-protein receptor kinase (GRK)2 in spinal microglia/macrophages [
8,
9]. GRK2 regulates cellular signaling by promoting desensitization of agonist-occupied G protein-coupled receptors and by direct interaction with multiple downstream signaling pathways [
10‐
14]. Our recent functional studies indicated a key role for GRK2 in regulating the transition from acute to persistent hyperalgesia. In mice with a 50% reduction of GRK2 in microglia/macrophages (LysM-GRK2
+/− mice), thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by intraplantar injection of inflammatory mediators were markedly prolonged [
8‐
10,
15]. For example, thermal hyperalgesia induced by a single intraplantar injection of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β resolved within 24 hours in wild-type (WT) mice, but lasted for at least 8 days in LysM-GRK2
+/− mice. Similarly, low-dose carrageenan-induced hyperalgesia was prolonged from 3 to 4 days in WT mice to 20 days in LysM-GRK2
+/− mice. This prolongation of hyperalgesia in LysM-GRK2
+/− mice was reversible by intrathecal administration of the microglial/macrophage inhibitor minocycline, indicating a decisive role for spinal cord microglia/macrophage activity in regulating the transition to persistent hyperalgesia in these models [
8,
9].
It is now well known that macrophage activation can induce development of two functional subtypes known as pro-inflammatory (M1-type) and anti-inflammatory (M2-type) macrophages. These two activated types of macrophages can be discriminated by the expression of specific markers on their cell surface, and are characterized by expression of pro-inflammatory factors such as interleukin 1β, and inducible nitrous oxide synthase (iNOS) (in M1 macrophages) or anti-inflammatory cytokines including transforming growth factor (TGF)-β (in M2 macrophages). In addition, there is evidence that microglial activation can also lead to development of either the M1 or M2 phenotype [
16,
17]. However, it is not known whether or how these distinct macrophages/microglia phenotypes contribute to regulation of pain responses.
In this study we investigated whether low levels of microglial/macrophage GRK2 promote the transition to chronic hyperalgesia via a miR-124-mediated pathway in spinal microglia/macrophages, and whether low GRK2 is associated with the expression of the M1 and M2 phenotype in spinal-cord microglia. We also determined whether miR-124 can be used to treat persistent hyperalgesia in models of chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain in WT mice.
Methods
Experiments were performed in accordance with international guidelines and approved by the experimental animal committee of UMC Utrecht.
Animals
We used female mice (aged 12 to 14 weeks) with cell-specific reduction of GRK2 in microglia/macrophages (LysM-GRK2
+/−), and control LysM-GRK2
+/+ mice [
8,
9] (WT) littermates bred and maintained in the animal facility of the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands). LysM-Cre mice and GRK2-fLox mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratories.
Mice received an intraplantar injection in the hind paw of 5 μl recombinant murine IL-1β (200 ng/ml; Peprotech, Rocky Hill, NJ, USA) or 20 μl λ-carrageenan (2% w/v; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) diluted in saline. Heat-withdrawal latency times were determined using the Hargreaves test (IITC Life Science, Woodland Hills, CA) as described previously [
18]. Intraplantar injection of saline did not induce detectable hyperalgesia in any of the genotypes.
Spared nerve injury (SNI) was performed in male C57/bl6 mice as described previously [
19]. Briefly, under 2% isoflurane anesthesia, the sciatic nerve and its three terminal branches were exposed carefully with minimal damage. Leaving the sural nerve intact, the common peroneal and the tibial nerves were tightly ligated with 6–0 silk surgical sutures and cut 2 to 4 mm distal to the ligation. Sham controls underwent anesthesia, incision, and exposure of the nerve only.
Mechanical allodynia was measured using von Frey hairs as described previously [
9]. The 50% paw-withdrawal threshold was calculated using the up-and-down method [
20]. In brief, animals were placed on a wire-grid base, through which the von Frey hairs (Stoelting, Wood Dale, IL, USA) were applied (bending force range from 0.02 to 1.4 g, starting with 0.16 g). The hair force was increased or decreased depending on the response. Clear paw withdrawal, shaking, or licking were considered as nociceptive-like responses. Ambulation was considered an ambiguous response, and in such cases, the stimulus was repeated.
Spontaneous locomotor activity (LMA) was determined 3 days after SNI in a clean, novel cage similar to the home cage, but devoid of bedding or litter. The cage was divided into four virtual quadrants, and LMA was measured by counting the number of line crossings over a five-min period.
All behavioral experiments were performed by an experimenter blinded to treatment and in a randomized fasion.
The miRNA-124 (2 μg in 50 μl PBS, PM10691Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, CA, USA) or control miRNA (2 μg in 50 μl PBS ,AM17110; Applied Biosystems) was mixed with transfection reagent (Lipofectamine 2000; Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) , diluted to the appropriate concentration (3 μl in 50 μl PBS) and applied intrathecally (5 μl/mouse) while the animals were under light isoflurane anesthesia.
Spinal microglia and peripheral macrophage isolation
At 24 hours after intraplantar IL-1β injection, lumbar enlargements (L2-L5) or thoracic (T6-T10) spinal cord of four mice were pooled and the microglia were isolated by Percoll density gradient centrifugation as described previously [
9].
Peripheral macrophages were isolated from peritoneal lavages using CD11b magnetic beads, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions (BD IMag, San Diego, CA, USA).
MicroRNA-124 and mRNA expression analysis
Total RNA was isolated using a commercial kit (RNeasy Mini Kit; Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). Specific reverse transcriptase and Taqman miRNA assays (Applied Biosystems) were carried out in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. The miR-124 expression (mmu-miR-124a, 001182) was normalized for snoRNA55 (001228) expression.
Real-time reverse transcriptase PCR
cDNA was processed from total RNA using reverse transcriptase (SuperScript; Invitrogen), and real-time PCR was performed (iQ5 Real-Time PCR Detection System; Bio-Rad, Alphen a/d Rijn, The Netherlands) using the primers shown in Table
1. Data were normalized for GAPDH and actin expression.
Table 1
Primers used for real-time reverse transcriptase PCR.
C/EBP-α | Forward | AgCTTACAACAggCCAggTTTC |
| Reverse | CggCTggCgACATACAgTAC |
TGF-β | Forward | CAgAgCTgCgCTTgCAgAg |
| Reverse | gTCAgCAgCCggTTACCAAg |
iNOS | Forward | ACCCACATCTggCAgAATgAg |
| Reverse | AgCCATgACCTTTCgCATTAg |
IL-1β | Forward | CAACCAACAAgTgATATTCTCCATg |
| Reverse | gATCCACACTCTCCAgCTgCA |
GAPDH | Forward | TgAAgCAggCATCTgAggg |
| Reverse | CgAAggTggAAgAgTgggAg |
Actin | Forward | AgAgggAAATCgTgCgTgAC |
| Reverse | CAATAgTgATgACCTggCCgT |
Immunohistochemistry
Mice were perfused intracardially with PBS 15 hours after intraplantar IL-1β injection, followed by 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS. Spinal cords were post-fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 6 hours at 4 °C, and cryoprotected in sucrose. Cryosections (10 μm) of thoracic segments T6 to T10 and lumbar segments L2 to L5 were incubated with 1:100 goat anti-mouse CD206 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA), 1:200 goat anti-mouse aginase I (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) or 1:500 rat anti-mouse CD16/32 (BD Biosciences) followed by alexa flour 488-conjugated secondary antibodies. Sections were viewed under a fluorescence microscope (Axio Observer; Zeiss, Jena, Germany). M1 and M2 expression was quantified in approximately 10 to 15 dorsal horns of spinal cords per group (four mice per group). The level of expression in the lumbar or thoracic part from control WT mice was set at 100%.
Statistical analysis
All data are presented as mean ± SEM. Measurements were compared using Student’s t-test or two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc tests using Prism 4 software.
Discussion
In this paper, we present a previously unreported role of miR-124 in the regulation of chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain. We found that intraplantar IL-1β administration to LysM-GRK2+/− mice, which induces persistent hyperalgesia, decreased the level of miR-124 in spinal cord microglia, increased expression of M1 type phenotypic markers and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and decreased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and M2 markers.We also showed that intrathecal administration of miR-124 normalized the M1:M2 ratio and prevented transition to persistent IL-1β-induced hyperalgesia in GRK2-deficient mice. Moreover, this is the first study, to our knowledge, to show that intrathecal miR-124 treatment reverses persistent carrageenan-induced hyperalgesia in WT mice. Finally, we found that miR-124 treatment completely inhibits mechanical allodynia in the SNI model of chronic neuropathic pain. Collectively, our findings indicate for that miR-124 could represent a novel treatment for chronic pain.
We showed previously that chronic carrageenan-induced paw inflammation in WT mice is associated with a decrease in GRK2 in spinal cord microglia [
9]. In addition, in the spinal nerve transection model of chronic neuropathic pain in rats, spinal-cord microglial GRK2 levels are also reduced by approximately 50% [
8]. In the current study, we found that intraplantar IL-1β injection in mice with low microglial/macrophage GRK2 levels induced a reduction in miR-124 expression, leading to a change in the M1/M2 balance towards a more pro-inflammatory phenotype and persistent hyperalgesia. Collectively, our current and previous findings indicate that the mechanisms involved in transition from acute to persistent hyperalgesia in the heterozygous GRK2 knockout model may well be applicable to the chronic pain that develops in more classic models of chronic pain. Indeed, our present findings show that miR-124 treatment also abrogates the existing persistent hyperalgesia induced by carrageenan in WT mice. The clinical relevance is further supported by the current data showing that miR-124 treatment inhibited the development of hyperalgesia in the SNI model of neuropathic pain supports.
It has been shown recently that intracranial injection of a miR-124 antisense oligonucleotide inhibitor induced activation of cerebral microglia [
1]. In addition,
in vitro bone marrow-derived macrophages transfected with miR-124 produced reduced levels of iNOS and increased levels of TGF-β in conjunction with decreased C/EBP-α expression. The current study is the first, to our knowledge, to show that miR-124 treatment prevents transition to persistent hyperalgesia in mice with low GRK2 levels in microglia/macrophages. We also found that treatment with miR-124 reversed the increased M1:M2 ratio that occurred in response to intraplantar IL-1β in the spinal cord of LysM-GRK2
+/− compared with WT mice. At the functional level, we showed that the decrease in miR-124 in LysM-GRK2
+/− spinal cord microglia in response to intraplantar IL-1β was associated with increased expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β and the pro-inflammatory enzyme iNOS, and with decreased expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β in spinal-cord microglia. At the same time, C/EBP-α, a ‘master’ transcription factor regulated by miR-124, was increased in spinal cord microglia from LysM-GRK2
+/− mice after intraplantar injection of IL-1β. Collectively, our findings support the notion that the decreased miR-124 expression seen in conditions of low GRK2 promotes spinal cord microglial/macrophage activation, leading to an increased M1:M2 ratio and prolonged inflammatory hyperalgesia.
The current
in vivo data are in line with the results from
in vitro studies reported by Ponomarev
et al, who found that
in vitro miR-124 treatment reduces expression of iNOS and increases TGF-β, arginase I and Fizz expression by activated bone marrow-derived macrophages [
1]. Therefore, we propose that miR-124 treatment reverses hyperalgesia by restoring the ratio of M1:M2 microglia/macrophages.
To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe a beneficial effect of miR-124 treatment on inflammatory pain and a decrease in spinal cord microglial miR-124 in a model of persistent hyperalgesia. A few recent studies investigated miR-124 expression in other pain models. Bai
et al. showed that miR-124 levels were significantly reduced in the trigeminal ganglion in a model of carrageenan-induced muscle pain, indicating that inflammatory activity regulates miR-124 in multiple pain models [
29]. Brandenburger
et al. reported that total spinal cord miR-124 was not changed in the chronic constriction injury model of neuropathic pain [
30]; however, because miR-124 is expressed at a high level in neurons, a potential change in microglial miR-124 may well have been masked in that study. In the present study, by contrast, miR-124 levels were quantified in isolated spinal microglia.
Because we injected miR-124 intrathecally, we cannot completely exclude that miR-124 also directly affects other cells in the spinal cord, including sensory neurons. Notably, however, in control WT mice we did not observe any effect of miR-124 treatment on the magnitude or duration of IL-1β-induced hyperalgesia. Moreover, intrathecal administration of miR-124 did not affect thermal sensitivity at baseline or mechanical sensitivity in the contralateral paw in the SNI model and did not affect spontaneous locomotor activity. A study using a conditional Dicer knockout mice found that nociceptor miRNA transcripts are required for lowering peripheral pain thresholds in inflammatory hyperalgesia; nociceptor specific deletion of Dicer, an enzyme required for generation of miRNAs, prevents the development of inflammatory hyperalgesia [
31]. Based on these and our present findings it is unlikely that the inhibition of persistent hyperalgesia by miR-124 treatment in our study is mediated by inhibition of neuronal hypersensitivity or by impaired motor function.
Intraplantar IL-1β administration did not have any effect on miR-124 expression in spinal cord microglia from control WT mice, whereas it significantly reduced miR-124 levels in microglia from LysM-GRK2
+/− mice. This finding indicates that low GRK2 in microglia/macrophages sensitizes these cells for an intraplantar IL-1β-induced decrease in miR-124 expression in spinal cord microglia. The question arises how intraplantar administration of IL-1β induces a decrease in microglial miR-124 levels. Interestingly,
in vitro it has been shown that co-culture of bone marrow derived macrophages with primary neurons reduces the level of macrophage miR-124 [
1]. These findings indicate that neuronal signals can directly regulate the expression of miR-124 in macrophage- like cells. It is known that peripheral nociceptors express IL-1β receptors and triggering of these receptors results in direct sensitisation of the nociceptor [
32]. Therefore, it is conceivable that concomitantly, neuronal signals transmitted to the spinal cord induce a reduction in miR-124 and thereby induce a M1 type spinal cord microglia activation. Our finding that only in mice with low GRK2 in microglia/macrophages miR-124 levels in spinal cord microglia are reduced in response to intraplantar IL-1β may point to a contribution of a GPCR-mediated signal to nociceptor-to-microglia signaling. However, GRK2 is also known to regulate cellular signaling at various levels downstream of the membrane receptors. Thus, also increased signaling independently of GPCRs in GRK2-deficient spinal cord microglia/macrophages may contribute to the seen decrease in miR-124 expression in microglia/macrophages from LysM-GRK2
+/− mice after intraplantar IL-1β.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
HLDM designed and performed experiments, and drafted the manuscript. XJH and QLML performed experiments and revised the manuscript. JZ performed immunohistochemistry and data analysis. CJH and AK designed experiments, supervised data analysis, and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.