Selective contribution of interleukin-6 and leptin to brain inflammatory signals induced by systemic LPS injection in mice

This study aimed to address the relative contributions of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the cytokine-like hormone leptin to the genomic activation of brain cells during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced systemic inflammation. Wildtype and IL-6KO mice were injected with LPS (50 microg/kg, intraperitoneally) and the brains analyzed by immunohistochemistry and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). LPS induced a pronounced nuclear translocation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3) throughout the brains of wildtype mice, an effect that was significantly diminished, but not abolished, in the IL-6KOs. The remnant STAT3-activation, although still observed within some of the same areas activated by IL-6, was most intense in ependymal and meningial cells and along distinct blood vessels throughout the brain. This expression was almost totally abolished in the presence of an anti-leptin antiserum. Interestingly, the induction of cyclooxygenase 2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES), the rate-limiting enzymes for synthesis of PGE2 by LPS, was diminished to a degree that correlated with the absence of IL-6 but not entirely with leptin. These results demonstrate that the induction of the inflammatory pathway in the brain is mediated by both IL-6 and leptin, which appear to work in tandem. Unlike IL-6, however, the contribution of leptin to this response was limited to distinct cell types/brain areas and STAT3-responsive target genes implicated in the brain-controlled sickness-type response. The physiological significance of leptin's action on meningeal and endothelial cells remains to be clarified but might reflect a role in LPS-induced immune cell infiltration into the brain.