Roxadustat alleviates nitroglycerin-induced migraine in mice by regulating HIF-1α/NF-κB/inflammation pathway

Sensitization of central pain and inflammatory pathways play essential roles in migraine, a primary neurobiological headache disorder. Since hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is implicated in neuroprotection and inflammation inhibition, herein we investigated the role of HIF-1α in migraine. A chronic migraine model was established in mice by repeated injection of nitroglycerin (10 mg/kg, i.p.) every other day for 5 total injections. In the prevention and acute experiments, roxadustat, a HIF-1α stabilizer, was orally administered starting before or after nitroglycerin injection, respectively. Pressure application measurement, and tail flick and light-aversive behaviour tests were performed to determine the pressure pain threshold, thermal nociceptive sensitivity and migraine-related light sensitivity. At the end of experiments, mouse serum samples and brain tissues were collected for analyses. We showed that roxadustat administration significantly attenuated nitroglycerin-induced basal hypersensitivity and acute hyperalgesia by improving central sensitization. Roxadustat administration also decreased inflammatory cytokine levels in serum and trigeminal nucleus caudalis (TNC) through NF-κB pathway. Consistent with the in vivo results showing that roxadustat inhibited microglia activation, roxadustat (2, 10, and 20 μM) dose-dependently reduced ROS generation and inflammation in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells, a mouse microglia cell line, by inhibiting HIF-1α/NF-κB pathway. Taken together, this study demonstrates that roxadustat administration ameliorates migraine-like behaviours and inhibits central pain sensitization in nitroglycerin-injected mice, which is mainly mediated by HIF-1α/NF-κB/inflammation pathway, suggesting the potential of HIF-1α activators as therapeutics for migraine.