Cholinergic signaling suppresses
inflammation in blood and brain and attenuates apoptosis in other tissues, but whether it blocks
inflammation in skeletal muscle under toxicant exposure,
injuries and diseases remained unexplored. Here, we report nicotinic attenuation of
inflammation and alteration of apoptotic
protein expression pattern in murine muscle tissue and cultured myotubes, involving the
RNA-binding protein,
Tristetraprolin, and the
anti-apoptotic protein, Mcl-1. In muscles and C2C12 myotubes,
cholinergic excitation by exposure to
nicotine or the organophosphorous
pesticide,
Paraoxon, induced
Tristetraprolin overproduction while reducing pro-inflammatory transcripts such as
IL-6, CXCL1 (KC) and CCL2 (MCP-1). Furthermore, nicotinic excitation under exposure to the bacterial
endotoxin LPS attenuated over-expression of the CCL2 and suppressed the transcriptional activity of NF-ĸB and
AP-1.
Tristetraprolin was essential for this anti-inflammatory effect of
nicotine in basal conditions. However, its knockdown also impaired the pro-inflammatory response to LPS. Finally, in vivo administration of
Paraoxon or recombinant
Acetylcholinesterase, leading respectively to either gain or loss of
cholinergic signaling, modified muscle expression of key
mRNA processing factors and several of their apoptosis-related targets. Specifically,
cholinergic imbalances enhanced the
kinase activators of the
Serine-
Arginine splicing
kinases, Clk1 and Clk3. Moreover,
Paraoxon raised the levels of the
anti-apoptotic protein, Mcl-1, through a previously unrecognized polyadenylation site selection mechanism, producing longer, less stable Mcl-1
mRNA transcripts. Together, our findings demonstrate that in addition to activating muscle function,
acetylcholine regulates muscle
inflammation and cell survival, and point to
Tristetraprolin and the choice of Mcl-1
mRNA polyadenylation sites as potential key players in muscle reactions to insults.