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The present work aimed to explore the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA)-AC020978 in postoperative cognitive disorder (POCD) and the underlying mechanism. The POCD mouse model was constructed through isoflurane anesthesia + abbreviated laparotomy. The AC020978 expression in brain tissue was silenced after lentivirus injection, then Morris water maze test was conducted to detect the cognitive disorder level, flow cytometry was performed to analyze M1 macrophage level, ELISA was carried out to measure inflammatory factor levels, H&E, Nissl and immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the pathological changes in brain tissue, and Western blotting assay was adopted to detect protein expression. In addition, microglial cells were cultured in vitro, after lentivirus infection, the effect of AC020978 on the M1 polarization of microglial cells and glycolysis was observed. AC020978 overexpression promoted POCD progression and aggravated cognitive disorder in mice; in addition, the proportion of peripheral and central M1 cells increased, the inflammatory factor levels were upregulated, and microglial cells were activated. By contrast, AC020978 silencing led to cognitive disorder in mice and suppressed microglial cell activation and M1 polarization. In vitro experimental results indicated that AC020978 promoted the expression and phosphorylation of PKM2, which promoted inflammatory response through enhancing microglial cell glycolysis and M1 polarization. AC020978 interacts with PKM2 to promote the glycolysis and M1 polarization of microglial cells, thus regulating cognitive disorder and central inflammation in POCD., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

We focused on investigating the effects and mechanisms of polystyrene (PS) microplastics in Alzheimer's disease (AD). PS could promote the cognitive impairment in mice and antagonize the action of PS. Meanwhile, it could promote microglial pyroptosis and aggravate neuroinflammation. In vitro results also showed that PS induced pyroptosis of BV2 and RAW264.7, after GSDMD silencing, such pyroptosis was inhibited. Our study found that PS aggravated neuroinflammation by inducing microglial pyroptosis, thereby promoting the progression of cognitive impairment in AD. This finding offers new support and reference for the induction of AD progression by environmental factors., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)