Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology (한국미생물·생명공학회)
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Thymol Ameliorates Aspergillus fumigatus Keratitis by Downregulating the TLR4/ MyD88/ NF-kB/ IL-1β Signal Expression and Reducing Necroptosis and Pyroptosis

  • Limei Wang (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Haijing Yan (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Xiaomeng Chen (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Lin Han (Gout Laboratory, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Guibo Liu (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Hua Yang (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Danli Lu (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Wenting Liu (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University) ;
  • Chengye Che (Department of Ophthalmology, the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University)
  • Received : 2022.07.08
  • Accepted : 2022.11.26
  • Published : 2023.01.28
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Abstract

Fungal keratitis is a refractory kind of keratopathy. We attempted to investigate the antiinflammatory role of thymol on Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) keratitis. Wound healing and fluorescein staining of the cornea were applied to verify thymol's safety. Mice models of A. fumigatus keratitis underwent subconjunctival injection of thymol. The anti-inflammatory roles of thymol were verified by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, slit lamp observation, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and Western blotting. In contrast with the DMSO group, more transparent corneas and less inflammatory cells infiltration were detected in mice treated with 50 ㎍/ml thymol. Thymol downregulated the synthesis of TLR4, MyD88, NF-kB, IL-1β, NLRP3, caspase 1, caspase 8, GSDMD, RIPK3 and MLKL. In summary, we proved that thymol played a protective part in A. fumigatus keratitis by cutting down inflammatory cells aggregation, downregulating the TLR4/ MyD88/ NF-kB/ IL-1β signal expression and reducing necroptosis and pyroptosis.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82171019), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021MH368).

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