Cytoglobin (Cygb) is a hexacoordinate
protein, associated with the transport of
oxygen,
nitric oxide scavenging,
tumor suppression and protection against oxidative stress and
inflammation. This
protein is expressed in brain areas including the preoptic area (POA) of the anterior hypothalamus, the region responsible for the regulation of body temperature. In this study, we show that Cygb is upregulated in the rat hypothalamus 2.5 h and 5 h after
intravenous administration of
lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We investigated the effect of treatment with Cygb in POA primary cultures stimulated with LPS for 4 h. The levels of
tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and
interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured and the results showed that Cygb reduced the concentrations of both
cytokines. We further observed a decrease in immunoreactivity of the inflammatory
transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), but not
NF-IL6 and STAT3, in the nucleus of Cygb-treated POA cells. These findings suggest that Cygb attenuates the secretion of
IL-6 and TNF-α in LPS-stimulated POA primary cultures via inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway, indicating that this
protein might play an important role in the control of
neuroinflammation and
fever.