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Updated: Jul 6, 2026
Neuron-Macrophage Co-cultures to Activate Macrophages Secreting Molecular Factors with Neurite Outgrowth Activity
Published on: March 30, 2018
Dopamine signaling reprograms macrophage FAO to alleviate acute lung injury by inhibiting NETosis via the
Ximing Liao1, Changwen Deng1, Jing Gao1
1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
Background:
Dysregulated innate immunity and oxidative stress drive the pathogenesis of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS), yet master endogenous regulators that orchestrate inflammation resolution remain elusive.
Methods:
This study employed public database mining, clinical data investigation, murine disease models, mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages and neutrophils, and human macrophages from healthy donors and ARDS patients, to investigate the dynamic changes of the dopaminergic signaling system in the acute pulmonary inflammatory environment and its role in regulating macrophage metabolism and neutrophil extracellular trap formation (NETosis).
Results:
Public database mining and experimental data reveal accelerated dopamine (DA) turnover during ALI. DA, signaling via D1-like receptors, reprograms macrophage metabolism by enhancing carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 A (CPT1A)-dependent fatty acid oxidation (FAO) and mitochondrial fitness, which is coupled with the suppression of MAPK/NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome activation. These modulated macrophages restrain neutrophilic inflammation by secreting IL-10 to inhibit the CXCL10-CXCR3 axis, thereby curtailing neutrophil hyperactivation and pathogenic NETosis. Crucially, this protective mechanism is conserved in human macrophages from both healthy donors and ARDS patients.
Conclusion:
Our findings establish DA as a therapeutic target for recalibrating innate immunity in ALI, providing a mechanistically grounded framework for targeting dopaminergic signaling to resolve dysregulated inflammation, with exploratory preclinical translational implications for ALI/ARDS therapy.
