Soluble cpg15 from Astrocytes Ameliorates Neurite Outgrowth Recovery of Hippocampal Neurons after Mouse Cerebral Ischemia

The present study focuses on the function of cpg15, a neurotrophic factor, in ischemic neuronal recovery using transient global cerebral ischemic (TGI) mouse model and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-treated primary cultured cells. The results showed that expression of cpg15 proteins in astrocytes, predominantly the soluble form, was significantly increased in mouse hippocampus after TGI and in the cultured astrocytes after OGD. Addition of the medium from the cpg15-overexpressed astrocytic culture into the OGD-treated hippocampal neuronal cultures reduces the neuronal injury, whereas the recovery of neurite outgrowths of OGD-injured neurons was prevented when cpg15 in the OGD-treated astrocytes was knocked down, or the OGD-treated-astrocytic medium was immunoadsorbed by cpg15 antibody. Furthermore, lentivirus-delivered knockdown of cpg15 expression in mouse hippocampal astrocytes diminishes the dendritic branches and exacerbates injury of neurons in CA1 region after TGI. In addition, treatment with inhibitors of MEK1/2, PI3K, and TrkA decreases, whereas overexpression of p-CREB, but not dp-CREB, increases the expression of cpg15 in U118 or primary cultured astrocytes. Also, it is observed that the Flag-tagged soluble cpg15 from the astrocytes transfected with Flag-tagged cpg15-expressing plasmids adheres to the surface of neuronal bodies and the neurites. In conclusion, our results suggest that the soluble cpg15 from astrocytes induced by ischemia could ameliorate the recovery of the ischemic-injured hippocampal neurons via adhering to the surface of neurons. The upregulated expression of cpg15 in astrocytes may be activated via MAPK and PI3K signal pathways, and regulation of CREB phosphorylation.