3.8 NSC-Exos inhibits the activation of TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway
TLR4/NF-κB pathway plays an important role in mediating inflammatory diseases. To investigate whether the treatment of stroke with NSC-Exos affects the TLR4/NF-κB pathway, we examined the expression of related genes and proteins in this pathway. The results showed that the expression of TLR4 and NF-κB increased, while the expression of P-NF-κB decreased after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (P< 0.05). After NSC-Exos transplantation, the expression of TLR4 and NF-κB decreased, while the expression of P-NF-κB was weaker (P< 0.05, Fig. 8a,b,c), and the same qPCR results also verified the experimental results (Fig. 8d). However, the inhibitor TAK-242 reversed the protective effect of the NSC-Exos intervention, possibly by regulating the polarization of microglia phenotypes via the TLR4/NF-κB pathway. There was no significant difference between TAK-242 group and NSC-Exos group (P >0.05). In conclusion, our study suggests that NSC-Exos therapy can effectively inhibit the activation of TLR4/NF-κB pathway, thereby regulating microglial polarization and reducing the release of inflammatory cytokines.