Imperial College London

Emeritus ProfessorJeremyNicholson

Faculty of MedicineDepartment of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Emeritus Professor of Biological Chemistry
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 3195j.nicholson Website

 
 
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Assistant

 

Ms Wendy Torto +44 (0)20 7594 3225

 
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Location

 

Office no. 665Sir Alexander Fleming BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@misc{Hoyles:2017,
author = {Hoyles, L and Snelling, T and Umlai, UK and Nicholson, JK and Carding, SR and Glen, RC and McArthur, S},
title = {Propionate has protective and anti-inflammatory effects on the blood–brain barrier},
type = {Poster},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/52672},
year = {2017}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - GEN
AB - Production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from dietary substrates by the gut microbiota is associated with health, with these metabolites influencing the host via the ‘gut–brain axis’. Micromolar quantities of microbially derived SCFAs are taken up from the gut and reach systemic circulation, where they can influence host gene expression through a variety of largely unknown mechanisms. The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is the major interface between the circulation and central nervous system, and is critically involved in the pathogenesis of neuroinflammatory disorders such as stroke and vascular dementia. We hypothesized exposure of the BBB to SCFAs influences barrier integrity and function.To test our hypothesis, we investigated the in vitro effects of a physiologically relevant concentration (1 μM) of propionate upon the human immortalised cerebromicrovascular endothelial cell line hCMEC/D3. Propionate is produced by the microbiota from dietary glucans, and is biologically active via the G protein coupled receptors FFAR2 and FFAR3. It is a highly potent FFAR2 agonist (agonist activity 3.99) and has close to optimal ligand efficiency (-ΔG=1.19 kcal mol-1 atom-1) for this receptor. Notably, FFAR3 is expressed on the vascular endothelium and a likely target for propionate in the BBB.After confirming the presence of FFAR3 on hCMEC/D3 cells, we undertook an unbiased transcriptomic analysis of confluent hCMEC/D3 monolayers treated or not for 24 h with 1 μM propionate, supported by in vitro validation of key findings and assessment of functional endothelial permeability barrier properties.Propionate treatment had a significant (PFDR < 0.1) effect on the expression of 1136 genes: 553 upregulated, 583 downregulated. Propionate inhibited several inflammation-associated pathways: namely, TLR-specific signalling, NFkappaB signalling, and cytosolic DNA-sensing. Functional validation of these findings confirmed the down-regulation of TLR
AU - Hoyles,L
AU - Snelling,T
AU - Umlai,UK
AU - Nicholson,JK
AU - Carding,SR
AU - Glen,RC
AU - McArthur,S
PY - 2017///
TI - Propionate has protective and anti-inflammatory effects on the blood–brain barrier
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/52672
ER -