Exacerbation of autoimmune neuroinflammation by dietary sodium is genetically controlled and sex specific

• Published in: The FASEB journal Vol. 29; no. 8; p. 3446
• Main Authors: Krementsov, Dimitry N, Case, Laure K, Hickey, William F, Teuscher, Cory
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.08.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Blood-Brain Barrier - metabolism; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17 - immunology; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental - etiology; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental - immunology; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental - metabolism; Female; Humans; Inflammation - etiology; Inflammation - immunology; Inflammation - metabolism; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Multiple Sclerosis - etiology; Multiple Sclerosis - immunology; Risk Factors; Sex Characteristics; Sodium, Dietary - adverse effects; Sodium, Dietary - metabolism; Th1 Cells - immunology; Th1 Cells - metabolism; Th17 Cells - immunology; Th17 Cells - metabolism; environment; experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; mouse model; risk factor; multiple sclerosis
• ISSN: 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fj.15-272542

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating autoimmune neuroinflammatory disease influenced by genetics and the environment. MS incidence in female subjects has approximately tripled in the last century, suggesting a sex-specific environmental influence. Recent animal and human studies have implicated dietary sodium as a risk factor in MS, whereby high sodium augmented the generation of T helper (Th) 17 cells and exacerbated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the principal model of MS. However, whether dietary sodium interacts with sex or genetics remains unknown. Here, we show that high dietary sodium exacerbates EAE in a strain- and sex-specific fashion. In C57BL6/J mice, exposure to a high-salt diet exacerbated disease in both sexes, while in SJL/JCrHsd mice, it did so only in females. In further support of a genetic component, we found that sodium failed to modify EAE course in C57BL6/J mice carrying a 129/Sv-derived interval on chromosome 17. Furthermore, we found that the high-sodium diet did not augment Th17 or Th1 responses, but it did result in increased blood-brain barrier permeability and brain pathology. Our results demonstrate that the effects of dietary sodium on autoimmune neuroinflammation are sex specific, genetically controlled, and CNS mediated.