The immunocytes microglia in the central nervous system (CNS) were reported to play a crucial role in neurodegeneration. As a member of P2 receptors family, purinoceptor P2Y6 has attracted much attention recently. Previous studies showed that purinoceptor P2Y6 mainly contributed to microglia activation and their later phagocytosis in CNS, while in immune system, it participated in the secretion of interleukin (IL)-8 from monocytes and macrocytes. So there raises a question: whether purinoceptor P2Y6 also takes part in neuroinflammation? Thus, this review mainly concerns about the properties and roles of purinoceptor P2Y6, including (1) structure of purinoceptor P2Y6; (2) distribution and properties of purinoceptor P2Y6; (3) relationships between purinoceptor P2Y6 and microglia; (4) relationships between purinoceptor P2Y6 and immunoinflammation. Itos proposed that purinoceptor P2Y6 may play a role in neuroinflammation in CNS, although further research is still required.
小胶质细胞是中枢神经系统中的一种免疫活性细胞, 在神经退行性疾病的发生发展中起着重要作用, 近年已经引起基础研究者的高度重视。 嘌呤能受体P2Y6是P2受体家族中的一员, 近年来也引起了科学界的关注。 有研究表明, P2Y6受体在中枢神经系统中介导小胶质细胞的活化及其吞噬作用, 在免疫系统中参与单核巨噬细胞分泌释放细胞因子IL-8。 在中枢神经系统中P2Y6受体是否也参与了炎症因子的产生呢? 本文就以下四个方面对P2Y6受体做一综述:(1)P2Y6受体的结构; (2)P2Y6受体的分布及特性; (3)P2Y6受体与小胶质细胞的关系; (4)P2Y6受体与免疫炎症的关系。 推测P2Y6受体可能在中枢神经系统的免疫炎症反应中起重要作用, 仍需进一步的研究去证实。