Bacterial lipopolysaccharide model of neuroinflammation-associated neurodegeneration in Wistar rats: A comparison between different durations of lipopolysaccharide induction

Vet World Vol.17 November-2024 Article - 16

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(11): 2567-2576

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.2567-2576

Vandana Blossom¹, Sheetal Dinkar Ullal², Rajalakshmi Rai¹, Shrijeet Chakraborthi³, Nayanatara Arun Kumar⁴, Mangala M. Pai¹, and Rajanigandha Vadgaonkar¹

1. Department of Anatomy, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
2. Department of Pharmacology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
3. Department of Cellular Pathology, Royal Preston Hospital, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, UK.
4. Department of Physiology, Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.

Background and Aim: Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation can be the most dependable animal model for studying neurodegeneration mechanisms driven by systemic inflammation-induced neuroinflammation. Hence, this study aimed to standardize the LPS model of neuroinflammation by comparing the effect of relatively low-dose LPS administered for different durations on the induction of neurodegeneration in Wistar rats.

Materials and Methods: Six groups of six adult Wistar rats per group were used in the study. Group 1 was the control group, and the other five were administered single weekly dose of LPS (170 μg/kg) for increasing durations, ranging from 4 weeks to 8 weeks. The study endpoints included behavioral parameters, neuronal assay results, and the expression of microglia and astrocytes in the frontal cortex, dentate gyrus, and hippocampus.

Results: We observed a significant reduction in the number of neurons and an increase in glial cells at 5 weeks of exposure, along with a decline in memory. Thereafter, these changes were gradual until 7 weeks of exposure. However, at 8 weeks of exposure, there was no further statistically significant worsening compared with the group exposed for 7 weeks.

Conclusion: To effectively induce neuroinflammation and cause neuronal damage, a minimum of five weekly LPS administrations at a dose of 170 μg/kg is required. Moreover, our results recommend a maximum of 7 weeks of LPS exposure to create a chronic inflammatory model of neuroinflammation.

Keywords: astrocyte, lipopolysaccharide, mental health, microglia, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation.

How to cite this article: Blossom V, Ullal SD, Rai R, Chakraborthi S, Kumar NA, Pai MM, Vadgaonkar R (2024) Bacterial lipopolysaccharide model of neuroinflammation-associated neurodegeneration in Wistar rats: A comparison between different durations of lipopolysaccharide induction, Veterinary World, 17(11): 2567-2576.

Received: 2024-05-26 Accepted: 2024-10-07 Published online: 2024-11-22

Corresponding author: Sheetal Dinkar Ullal E-mail: sheetal.ullal@manipal.edu

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2567-2576

Copyright: Blossom, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.