28,29 To assess the consequences of miR-155 inhibition, and the resulting decrease in NO production, on CD11b expression, we performed immunocytochemistry to evaluate CD11b labelling in N9 cells. For this purpose, N9 microglia cells were transfected with anti-miR-155 or control oligonucleotides 24 hr before exposure to LPS (0·1 μg/ml). Following 18 hr of incubation with LPS, cells were fixed and labelled with the nuclear dye DAPI, with a specific anti-CD11b antibody and an antibody against the structural protein tubulin (Fig. 7). Results in Fig. 7 clearly show that exposure to LPS STI571 research buy increases CD11b labelling in

N9 cells (Fig. 7e), with respect to control cells (Fig. 7a). In this regard, it was also possible to

observe striking differences in cell morphology, because LPS-treated cells lose the characteristic star Ruxolitinib chemical structure shape of resting N9 cells and become round and amoeboid, a common feature of activated microglia cells. Similar results were observed in N9 cells transfected with control oligonucleotides followed by LPS exposure (Fig. 7m). These cells present the same intense CD11b labelling and round shape of untransfected, LPS-treated cells. However, cells transfected with the anti-miR-155 oligonucleotides before LPS treatment showed less intense CD11b labelling and a morphology closer to that of control cells (Fig. 7i), indicating

lower levels of CD11b. In view of the pro-inflammatory Selleck Osimertinib role of miR-155 in activated microglia, as evidenced by our results on N9 cells, we evaluated the potential of miR-155 modulation as an anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective strategy. For this purpose, N9 microglia cells were transfected with anti-miR-155 or control oligonucleotides 24 hr before exposure to LPS (0·1 μg/ml). Following 18 hr of incubation with LPS, the medium of N9 cells was collected and mixed with Neurobasal medium at a ratio of 1 : 1 (v/v). Primary cultures of cortical neurons were incubated with this mixture (conditioned medium) for 24 hr before assessment of cell viability using the Alamar Blue assay (Fig. 8). In parallel, cortical cultures were exposed directly to the same concentration of LPS (0·1 μg/ml). Figure 8 shows that neurons exposed to conditioned medium collected from N9 cells, previously incubated with LPS in the absence of transfection, presented a reduction in viability of 40%. Similar results were observed in neurons incubated with conditioned medium collected from cells transfected with control oligonucleotides. However, neurons treated with medium conditioned by N9 cells, in which miR-155 had been inhibited before LPS treatment, presented only a slight decrease in viability (10%) with respect to control neuronal cells.