PPM1K mediates metabolic disorder of branched-chain amino acid and regulates cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by activating ferroptosis in neurons

Abstract

Although reperfusion therapy is the most effective treatment for ischemic stroke, it still has limited benefits for many patients, and ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is a widely recognized cause of poor prognosis. Here, we aim to investigate the mechanism of protein phosphatase Mg2+/Mn2+ dependent 1K (PPM1K) mediates metabolic disorder of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) by promoting fatty acid oxidation led to ferroptosis after cerebral I/R injury. We established the I/R model in mice and used BT2, a highly specific BCAA dehydrogenase (BCKD) kinase inhibitor to promote BCAA metabolism. We found that BCAA levels were elevated after I/R injury due to dysfunctional oxidative degradation caused by phosphorylated BCKD E1α subunit (BCKDHA). Additionally, the level of phosphorylated BCKDHA was determined by decreased PPM1K in neurons. We next demonstrated that BCAA could induce oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and ferroptosis in primary cultured cortical neurons in vitro. Our results further showed that BT2 could reduce neuronal ferroptosis by enhancing BCAA oxidation through inhibition of BCKDHA phosphorylation. Furthermore, BT2 was found to alleviate neurological behavior disorders after I/R injury in mice, and the effect was similar to ferroptosis inhibitor ferrostatin-1. Our findings reveal a novel role of BCAA in neuronal ferroptosis after cerebral ischemia and provide a new potential target for treatment of ischemic stroke.