1. Immunology and Inflammation
  2. Neuroscience
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Drainage of inflammatory macromolecules from brain to periphery targets the liver for macrophage infiltration

  1. Linlin Yang
  2. Jessica A Jiménez
  3. Alison M Earley
  4. Victoria Hamlin
  5. Victoria Kwon
  6. Cameron T Dixon
  7. Celia E Shiau  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
Research Article
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Cite this article as: eLife 2020;9:e58191 doi: 10.7554/eLife.58191

Abstract

Many brain pathologies are associated with liver damage, but a direct link has long remained elusive. Here, we establish a new paradigm for interrogating brain-periphery interactions by leveraging zebrafish for its unparalleled access to the intact whole animal for in vivo analysis in real time after triggering focal brain inflammation. Using traceable lipopolysaccharides (LPS), we reveal that drainage of these inflammatory macromolecules from the brain led to a strikingly robust peripheral infiltration of macrophages into the liver independent of Kupffer cells. We further demonstrate that this macrophage recruitment requires signaling from the cytokine IL-34 and Toll-like receptor adaptor MyD88, and occurs in coordination with neutrophils. These results highlight the possibility for circulation of brain-derived substances to serve as a rapid mode of communication from brain to the liver. Understanding how the brain engages the periphery at times of danger may offer new perspectives for detecting and treating brain pathologies.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Linlin Yang

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-5602-4157

  2. Jessica A Jiménez

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Alison M Earley

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1889-9221

  4. Victoria Hamlin

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Victoria Kwon

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Cameron T Dixon

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Celia E Shiau

    Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    For correspondence
    shiauce@unc.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9347-9158

Funding

National Institutes of Health (1R35GM124719)

  • Celia E Shiau

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (#16-160 and #19-132) of the UNC Chapel Hill.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Michel Bagnat, Duke University, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: April 23, 2020
  2. Accepted: July 27, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: July 31, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: August 18, 2020 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record updated: September 7, 2020 (version 3)

Copyright

© 2020, Yang et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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