中国神经再生研究(英文版) ›› 2023, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (11): 2545-2552.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.371374

• 原著:神经损伤修复保护与再生 • 上一篇    

神经病理性疼痛后m6A甲基化的表观遗传学及转录组学分析

  

  • 出版日期:2023-11-15 发布日期:2023-05-05
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金项目(81973305);广州市科技规划项目(201904010487);广东省自然科学基金项目(2021A1515010897);湛江市中心人民医院学科建设基金项目(2020A01,2020A02)

Epigenetic combined with transcriptomic analysis of the m6A methylome after spared nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in mice

Fanning Zeng1, 2, Jun Cao1, 3, Zexuan Hong1, 2, Yitian Lu1, Zaisheng Qin1, *, Tao Tao2, *   

  1. 1Department of Anesthesiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China; 2Department of Anesthesiology, Central People’s Hospital of Zhanjiang, Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, China; 3Department of Anesthesiology, Shenzhen Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • Online:2023-11-15 Published:2023-05-05
  • Contact: Tao Tao, MD, taotaomzk@smu.edu.cn; Zaisheng Qin, MD, mzkqzs@smu.edu.cn.
  • Supported by:
    This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81973305 (to ZQ); Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou of China, No. 201904010487 (to ZQ); the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China, No. 2021A1515010897 (to TT); and the Discipline Construction Fund of Central People’s Hospital of Zhanjiang, Nos. 2020A01 (to TT) and 2020A02 (to TT).

摘要:

脊髓中的表观遗传学变化在周围神经损伤引起的神经病理性疼痛的发生和维持中起着重要的作用。N6甲基腺苷(m6A)修饰是最常见的RNA修饰之一,在多种疾病的基因调控中起着重要的作用。然而,神经病理性疼痛不同阶段脊髓中mRNA整体m6A修饰状态仍不清楚。此次实验以保留完整的腓肠神经而只损伤腓总神经的方法建立了神经病理性疼痛模型。RNA 免疫共沉淀结合高通量测序结果显示,周围神经损伤后脊髓中存在55种m6A甲基化且差异表达的基因。基因本体论(GO)和京都基因百科全书(KEGG)通路分析结果表明,m6A修饰可触发周围神经损伤后早期的炎症反应和凋亡。且随着时间的推移,m6A甲基化的差异基因可导致突触形态可塑性改变,这成为神经病理性疼痛发生和维持的转折点。神经病理性疼痛的持续存在是由富含m6A甲基化差异基因调节的脂质代谢过程引起的。其中,m6A甲基化修饰酶的甲基转移酶类和去甲基酶类在神经病理性疼痛中具有重要的调控作用,而该研究则发现阅读蛋白酶类修饰酶同样发挥了重要的作用。上述结果展示了神经病理性疼痛不同阶段脊髓mRNA的m6A甲基化的整体情况。

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6348-719X (Tao Tao); https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7798-1423 (Zaisheng Qin)

关键词: m6A, 保留神经损伤, RNA甲基化, 神经病理性疼痛, Nlrp1b, YTHDF2, RNA 免疫共沉淀结合高通量测序, m6A阅读蛋白酶, 表观遗传学

Abstract: Epigenetic changes in the spinal cord play a key role in the initiation and maintenance of nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most abundant internal RNA modifications and plays an essential function in gene regulation in many diseases. However, the global m6A modification status of mRNA in the spinal cord at different stages after neuropathic pain is unknown. In this study, we established a neuropathic pain model in mice by preserving the complete sural nerve and only damaging the common peroneal nerve. High-throughput methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing results showed that after spared nerve injury, there were 55 m6A methylated and differentially expressed genes in the spinal cord. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway results showed that m6A modification triggered inflammatory responses and apoptotic processes in the early stages after spared nerve injury. Over time, the differential gene function at postoperative day 7 was enriched in “positive regulation of neurogenesis” and “positive regulation of neural precursor cell proliferation.” These functions suggested that altered synaptic morphological plasticity was a turning point in neuropathic pain formation and maintenance. Results at postoperative day 14 suggested that the persistence of neuropathic pain might be from lipid metabolic processes, such as “very-low-density lipoprotein particle clearance,” “negative regulation of cholesterol transport” and “membrane lipid catabolic process.” We detected the expression of m6A enzymes and found elevated mRNA expression of Ythdf2 and Ythdf3 after spared nerve injury modeling. We speculate that m6A reader enzymes also have an important role in neuropathic pain. These results provide a global landscape of mRNA m6A modifications in the spinal cord in the spared nerve injury model at different stages after injury.

Key words: epigenetic, m6A reader, m6A, MeRIP-Seq, Nlrp1b, neuropathic pain, RNA methylation, spared nerve injury, Ythdf2