Zika virus infection modulates the metabolomic profile of microglial cells

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 25;13(10):e0206093. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206093. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus of the Flaviviridae family. Although infection with ZIKV generally leads to mild disease, its recent emergence in the Americas has been associated with an increase in the development of the Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, as well as with neurological complications, in particular congenital microcephaly, in new-borns. To date, little information is available on neuroinflammation induced by ZIKV, notably in microglial cells in the context of their metabolic activity, a series of chemical transformations that are essential for their growth, reproduction, structural maintenance and environmental responses. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the metabolomic profile of ZIKV-infected microglia. Microglial cells were exposed to ZIKV at different time points and were analyzed by a Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach. The results show that ZIKV infection in microglia leads to modulation of the expression of numerous metabolites, including lysophospholipids, particulary Lysophosphatidylcholine, and phospholipids such as Phosphatidylcholine, Phosphatidylserine, Ceramide and Sphingomyelin, and carboxylicic acids as Undecanedioic and Dodecanedioic acid. Some of these metabolites are involved in neuronal differentiation, regulation of apoptosis, virion architecture and viral replication. ZIKV infection was associated with concomitant secretion of inflammatory mediators linked with central nervous system inflammation such as IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, iNOS and NO. It also resulted in the upregulation of the expression of the gene encoding CX3CR1, a chemokine receptor known to regulate functional synapse plasticity and signaling between microglial cells. These findings highlight an important role for microglia and their metabolites in the process of neuroinflammation that occurs during ZIKV pathogenesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Culicidae
  • Fetus / cytology
  • Fetus / virology
  • Humans
  • Metabolome / physiology*
  • Metabolomics
  • Microcephaly / metabolism
  • Microcephaly / pathology
  • Microglia / metabolism*
  • Microglia / pathology
  • Vero Cells
  • Virus Replication / physiology
  • Zika Virus / physiology
  • Zika Virus Infection / metabolism*
  • Zika Virus Infection / pathology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grants ANR- 14-CE14-0029 and ANR-15-CE15-00029), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under ZIKAlliance grant agreement No. 734548. Fodé Diop was supported by a fellowship from the Infectiopôle Sud foundation.