Parkin in early stage LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells regulates pro-inflammatory response and mitochondrial quality via mitophagy.

Numerous literature related to the role of Parkin and mitophagy focuses on neurons, but not microglial cells, responsible for most inflammatory responses in the central nervous system. Here, we first observed that Parkin expression in BV-2 microglial cells increased up to 6 hours (early stage) after LPS stimulation and decreased after that. Overexpression Parkin substantially suppressed the pro-inflammatory response and control of pro-inflammatory mediators is through regulation of MAPK and NF-κB signal in BV-2 cells. Therefore, these results demonstrate that early LPS-induced Parkin controls the inflammatory response by modulating MAPK and retains mitochondrial quality through mitophagy in microglial cells.