Endoplasmic reticulum stress-related neuroinflammation and neural stem cells decrease in mice exposure to paraquat

Paraquat (PQ), a widely used herbicide, could cause neurodegenerative diseases, yet the mechanism remains incompletely understood. This study aimed to investigate the direct effect of PQ on NSC in vivo and its possible mechanism. Adult C57BL/6 mice were subcutaneously injected with 2 mg/kg PQ, 20 mg/kg PQ or vehicle control once a week for 2 weeks, and sacrificed 1 week after the last PQ injection. Furthermore, extra experiments with Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA) intervention were performed to observe the relationship between ER stress, neuroinflammation and the neural stem cell (NSC) impairment. The results showed that 20 mg/kg PQ caused the NSC number decrease in both subgranular zones (SGZ) and subventricular zone (SVZ). Further analysis indicated that the 20 mg/kg PQ suppressed the proliferation of NSC, without affecting the apoptosis. Moreover, 20 mg/kg PQ also induced ER stress in microglia and caused neuroinflammation in SGZ and SVZ. Interestingly, the ER stress inhibitor could simultaneously ameliorate the neuroinflammation and NSC reduction. These data suggested that increased ER stress in microglia might be a possible pathway for PQ-induced neuroinflammation and NSC impairment. That is a previously unknown mechanism for PQ neurotoxicity.