Tetramethylpyrazine attenuates endotoxin-induced retinal inflammation by inhibiting microglial activation via the TLR4/NF-κB signalling pathway

Ocular inflammation is a common pathological condition of a series of retinal degenerative diseases. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), a Chinese herbal extraction, is widely used in the treatment of several ocular diseases in Eastern countries. However, the exact mechanisms correlating the vision protective effects of TMP have not been elucidated. Thus, this study aimed to investigate TMP’s molecular targets in anti-inflammatory activity in endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced retinal inflammation both in vitro and in vivo. The primary cultured retinal microglial cells were pretreated with TMP and then activated by LPS. We found pretreatment with TMP significantly inhibited LPS-induced upregulation of CD68, a marker of mononuclear microglia activation. The morphological changes induced by LPS were also inhibited by the TMP pretreatment. Moreover, Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4), phosphorylation of inhibitor of NF-κB alpha (p-IκB-α) and the translocation of nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65) were significantly downregulated in retinal microglial cells with TMP pretreatment, which indicated that TMP might suppress LPS-induced retinal microglial activation through TLR4/NF-κB signalling pathway. And these results were confirmed in vivo. Pretreatment with TMP inhibited microglial activation, migration and regeneration, especially in ganglion cell layer (GCL). In addition to the inhibition of TLR4, TMP significantly inhibited the translocation of NF-κB p-65 to the nucleus in vivo. The downstream genes of NF-κB, such as the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), were significantly downregulated by TMP pretreatment in the retina. Accordingly, the increased expression of cleaved caspase-3 and the decreased ratio of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) to Bcl-2 associated X Protein (Bax) were significantly attenuated by TMP. TUNEL assay also demonstrated that TMP exerted neuroprotective effects in the retina. Therefore, this study elucidated a novel mechanism that TMP inhibits retinal inflammation by inhibiting microglial activation via a TLR4/NF-κB signalling pathway.