Objective: Toll-like receptor (TLR) activation plays an important role in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, increasing evidence suggests that TLRs may affect cognitive behavior through TLR-mediated signaling. Here, we explored the protective effects of TLR3 on cognitive dysfunction after ischemia in the context of poly(I:C) preconditioning.Materials and Methods : Mice (n=84) were randomly divided into the sham group, AAV (vector) group, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model group, poly(I:C) (pre) + MCAO model group, and AAV (TRAF6) + poly(I:C) (pre) + MCAO model group. The mice were injected i.p. with poly(I:C) (1.25 mg/g) 24 h prior to cerebral ischemia. Then, neurological scores were assessed, and the infarct volume was measured after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. We evaluated the poly(I:C) preconditioning-induced attenuation of neuronal damage using Nissl and TUNEL staining. We assessed the poly(I:C) preconditioning-mediated inhibition of I/R-induced glial activation, inflammatory factor levels and TRAF6 expression. We also assessed whether TRAF6 affects poly(I:C) preconditioning to improve cognitive dysfunction and neuroprotection.Results: The results showed that compared with those of the sham group and AAV (vector) group, the functional neurological scores and focal infarct volume of the MCAO group and poly(I:C) preconditioning group were significantly increased. The results also showed that compared with those of the MCAO group, the functional neurological scores and focal infarct volume of the poly(I:C) preconditioning group were significantly reduced. Our results indicated that poly(I:C) preconditioning significantly attenuated neuronal apoptosis and cell loss. Poly(I:C) preconditioning also inhibited I/R-induced glial cell activation and reduced NF-κB, TNF-α and IL-β levels. Our findings showed that poly(I:C) preconditioning affected cognitive dysfunction following cerebral I/R. Here, we observed that poly(I:C) preconditioning affected the expression and distribution of TRAF6 following cerebral I/R. TRAF6 overexpression abolished poly(I:C)-induced neuroprotection and worsened cognitive dysfunction in cerebral I/R injury.Significance: Our findings suggested that poly(I:C) preconditioning ameliorates cognitive dysfunction after cerebral I/R injury by inhibiting TRAF6 signaling, which is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction after stroke.
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