Development of CRID3-Based Anti-inflammatory Agents to Ameliorate Chronic Hypoxia-Induced Memory Impairment in Zebrafish Models

Abstract

Chronic hypoxic exposure triggers the onset and progression of cognitive dysfunction; however, the mechanisms underlying chronic hypoxia-induced neuroinflammation and its contribution to cognitive dysfunction remain poorly understood. Although inflammation and hypoxia are interdependent, numerous recent studies have linked the development of various human diseases to hypoxia-induced inflammation. In this study, we focused on the NLRP3 inflammasome with novel analogues of cytokine release inhibitory drug 3 (CRID3), a class of small molecule inhibitors for the NLRP3 inflammasome, to investigate their potential contribution to alleviating chronic hypoxia-induced neuroinflammation using the zebrafish model. The designed CRID3 analogues 6a–q were prepared from 2-methyl furan-3-carboxylate, following a four-step reaction sequence and fully characterized by NMR and mass spectral analysis. The administration of CRID3 analogues 6a–q led to a notable reduction in neuroinflammation and an increase in glial proliferation markers in both sexes. In addition, we investigated the potential effects of CRID3 analogues 6a–q through various behavioral tasks to assess their role in ameliorating post-hypoxic behavioral deficits and cognitive impairment. Notably, the study revealed that post-chronic hypoxia, male zebrafish exhibited significantly higher levels of inflammatory marker expression than females. Furthermore, we observed that the neurogenic response to treatment with CRID3 derivative 6o varied depending on the sex, with females showing a sex-specific differential increase in neurogenesis compared to males. This work emphasizes the significance of considering sex differences into account in developing therapeutic strategies for neurological disorders, as shown by the sex-specific molecular and behavioral changes in zebrafish cognitive impairment and neuroinflammation.