Andrograpanin attenuates secondary neuroinflammation after spinal cord injury by modulating microglial glycolysis via...

Spinal cord injury (SCI), a devastating central nervous system disorder, often leads to persistent sensory, motor, and autonomic impairments that severely reduce quality of life. Following SCI, a rapidly formed hypoxic microenvironment induces abnormal accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), whose sustained activation triggers excessive pro-inflammatory cascades and dysregulated glycolysis, thereby aggravating secondary neuronal injury. In this study, we employed an integrated strategy combining network pharmacology, transcriptome sequencing, and in vivo and in vitro experiments to investigate the therapeutic potential of the Andrograpanin derivative Andrograpanin in SCI-induced secondary inflammation. Andrograpanin treatment significantly improved neurological function in SCI mice and prominently modulated HIF-1α expression along with downstream glycolysis-related genes. Mechanistic studies revealed that Andrograpanin directly inhibited HIF-1α transcriptional activity, reversing SCI-induced glycolytic hyperactivation, and regulated microglial polarization by shifting cells from a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype toward an anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype, ultimately alleviating neuroinflammation. This intervention disrupted the hypoxia-driven, HIF-1α-mediated feedback loop that amplifies glycolysis and inflammation, thereby conferring neuroprotection. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that Andrograpanin exerts therapeutic effects in SCI by targeting HIF-1α to regulate glycolytic metabolism and microglial polarization, offering a novel immunometabolic strategy and valuable insights for future clinical translation.