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Astrocytic calcium signaling plays pivotal roles in the maintenance of neural functions and neurovascular coupling in the brain. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an original biological substance of vessels, regulates the movement of calcium and potassium ions across neuronal membrane. In this study, we investigated whether and how VEGF regulates glutamate‐induced calcium influx in astrocytes. We used cultured astrocytes combined with living cell imaging to detect the calcium influx induced by glutamate. We found that VEGF quickly inhibited the glutamate/hypoxia‐induced calcium influx, which was blocked by an AMPA receptor antagonist CNQX, but not D‐AP5 or UBP310, NMDA and kainate receptor antagonist, respectively. VEGF increased phosphorylation of PKCα and AMPA receptor subunit GluA2 in astrocytes, and these effects were diminished by SU1498 or calphostin C, a PKC inhibitor. With the pHluorin assay, we observed that VEGF significantly increased membrane insertion and expression of GluA2, but not GluA1, in astrocytes. Moreover, siRNA‐produced knockdown of GluA2 expression in astrocytes reversed the inhibitory effect of VEGF on glutamate‐induced calcium influx. Together, our results suggest that VEGF reduces glutamate‐induced calcium influx in astrocytes via enhancing PKCα‐mediated GluA2 phosphorylation, which in turn promotes the membrane insertion and expression of GluA2 and causes AMPA receptors to switch from calcium‐permeable to calcium‐impermeable receptors, thereby inhibiting astrocytic calcium influx. The present study reveals that excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate‐mediated astrocytic calcium influx can be regulated by vascular biological factor via activation of AMPA receptor GluA2 subunit and uncovers a novel coupling mechanism between astrocytes and endothelial cells within the neurovascular unit.

Reactive astrocytes induced by ischemia can transdifferentiate into mature neurons. This neurogenic potential of astrocytes may have therapeutic value for brain injury. Epigenetic modifications are widely known to involve in developmental and adult neurogenesis. PAX6, a neurogenic fate determinant, contributes to the astrocyte-to-neuron conversion. However, it is unclear whether microRNAs (miRs) modulate PAX6-mediated astrocyte-to-neuron conversion. In the present study we used bioinformatic approaches to predict miRs potentially targeting Pax6, and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) to model cerebral ischemic injury in adult rats. These rats were given striatal injection of glial fibrillary acidic protein targeted enhanced green fluorescence protein lentiviral vectors (Lv-GFAP-EGFP) to permit cell fate mapping for tracing astrocytes-derived neurons. We verified that miR-365 directly targets to the 3'-UTR of Pax6 by luciferase assay. We found that miR-365 expression was significantly increased in the ischemic brain. Intraventricular injection of miR-365 antagomir effectively increased astrocytic PAX6 expression and the number of new mature neurons derived from astrocytes in the ischemic striatum, and reduced neurological deficits as well as cerebral infarct volume. Conversely, miR-365 agomir reduced PAX6 expression and neurogenesis, and worsened brain injury. Moreover, exogenous overexpression of PAX6 enhanced the astrocyte-to-neuron conversion and abolished the effects of miR-365. Our results demonstrate that increase of miR-365 in the ischemic brain inhibits astrocyte-to-neuron conversion by targeting Pax6, whereas knockdown of miR-365 enhances PAX6-mediated neurogenesis from astrocytes and attenuates neuronal injury in the brain after ischemic stroke. Our findings provide a foundation for developing novel therapeutic strategies for brain injury.

Axon-transport plays an important role in neuronal activity and survival. Reduced endogenous VEGF can cause neuronal damage and axon degeneration. It is unknown at this time if VEGF can be transported within the axon or whether it can be released by axonal depolarization. We transfected VEGF-eGFP plasmids in cultured hippocampal neurons and tracked their movement in the axons by live-cell confocal imaging. Then, we co-transfected phVEGF-eGFP and kinesin-1B-DsRed vectors into neurons and combined with immunoprecipitation and two-color imaging to study the mechanism of VEGF axon-trafficking. We found that VEGF vesicles morphologically co-localized and biochemically bounded with kinesin-1B, as well as co-trafficked with it in the axons. Moreover, the capacity for axonal trafficking of VEGF was reduced by administration of nocodazole, an inhibitor of microtubules, or kinesin-1B shRNA. In addition, we found that VEGF could release from the cultured neurons under acute depolarizing stimulation with potassium chloride. Therefore, present findings suggest that neuronal VEGF is stored in the vesicles, actively released, and transported in the axons, which depends on the presence of kinesin-1B and functional microtubules. These results further help us to understand the importance of neuronal VEGF in the maintenance of neuronal activity and survival throughout life.

Purpose Astrocytes can be reactivated after cerebral ischemia by expressing nestin and other characteristic markers of neural stem cells (NSCs). However, the epigenetic features of reactive astrocytes are not well known. Methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is a vital transcriptional modulator in brain development. Although the expression and function of some phosphorylated MeCP2 isoforms have been clarified, phospho-serine 292 (pS292) MeCP2 has not yet drawn much attention. In this study, we used western blot analysis and immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent staining to reveal the expressive features of pS292 MeCP2 and MeCP2 in the adult rat striatum following transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Results We first discovered that the ischemia-induced expression of cytoplasmic pS292 MeCP2 is primarily accumulated in nestin-positive reactive astrocytes in the stroke-injured striatum. Moreover, the enhancement of astrocytic pS292 MeCP2 was correlated with the augmentation of VEGF in astrocytes, as determined by the substantial co-localization of pS292 MeCP2 and VEGF after stroke. Finally, the exogenous overproduction of VEGF further promoted the expression of pS292 MeCP2 in reactive astrocytes, and this effect was accompanied by a marked increase in reactive astrocytes. On the contrary, MeCP2 was predominantly expressed in the neuronal nucleus, and the level of this protein was not significantly altered after ischemic injury and VEGF overproduction. Conclusion Our data provide the first demonstration that overexpression of VEGF enhances the accumulation of pS292 MeCP2 in reactive astrocytes in the ischemic-injured rat striatum, implicating a pS292 MeCP2-related epigenetic role of exogenous VEGF in reactive astrocytes following cerebral ischemia.

This study examined the effect of neuron-endothelial coupling on the survival of neurons after ischemia and the possible mechanism underlying that effect. Whole-cell patch-clamp experiments were performed on cortical neurons cultured alone or directly cocultured with brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC). Propidium iodide (PI) and NeuN staining were performed to examine neuronal death following oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD). We found that the neuronal transient outward potassium currents (IA) decreased in the coculture system, whereas the outward delayed-rectifier potassium currents (IK) did not. Sodium nitroprusside, a NO donor, enhanced BMEC-induced IA inhibition and nitro-l-arginine methylester, a NOS inhibitor, partially prevented this inhibition. Moreover, the neurons directly cocultured with BMEC showed more resistance to OGD-induced injury compared with the neurons cultured alone, and that neuroprotective effect was abolished by treatment with NS5806, an activator of the IA. These results indicate that vascular endothelial cells assist neurons to prevent hypoxic injury via inhibiting neuronal IA by production of NO in the direct neuron-BMEC coculture system. These results further provide direct evidence of functional coupling between neurons and vascular endothelial cells. This study clearly demonstrates that vascular endothelial cells play beneficial roles in the pathophysiological processes of neurons after hypoxic injury, suggesting that the improvement of neurovascular coupling or functional remodeling may become an important therapeutic target for preventing brain injury.