Role of O-GlcNAcylation in Central Nervous System Development and Injuries: A Systematic Review

The development of central nervous system (CNS) can form perceptual, memory, and cognitive functions, while injuries to CNS often lead to severe neurological dysfunction and even death. As one of the prevalent post-translational modifications (PTMs), O-GlcNAcylation has recently attracted great attentions due to its functions in regulating the activity, subcellular localization, and stability of target proteins. It has been indicated that O-GlcNAcylation could interact with phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and methylation to jointly regulate the function and activity of proteins. Furthermore, a growing number of studies have suggested that O-GlcNAcylation played an important role in the CNS. During development, O-GlcNAcylation participated in the neurogenesis, neuronal development, and neuronal function. In addition, O-GlcNAcylation was involved in the progress of CNS injuries including ischemic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and played a crucial role in the improvement of brain damage such as attenuating cognitive impairment, inhibiting neuroinflammation, suppressing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and maintaining blood–brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Therefore, O-GlcNAcylation showed great promise as a potential target in CNS development and injuries. In this article, we presented a review highlighting the role of O-GlcNAcylation in CNS development and injuries. Hence, on the basis of these properties and effects, intervention with O-GlcNAcylation may be developed as therapeutic agents for CNS diseases.