Over-expression of TREM2 alleviates cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury in rats

Objective To explore the effect of over-expression of triggering receptor on dementia model after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rat model and potential mechanism. Methods Rats were randomly divided into control group and TBI test groups of 2, 5, 7, 14 and 28 days (n=8). RT-qPCR and Western blot were used to detect trem2 mRNA and protein levels in brain tissues. The remaining 32 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=8): control group, TBI group, (TBI+Null) group and (TBI+ TREM2) group. The (TBI+Null) group was injected with control lentiviral vector, and the (TBI+TREM2) group was injected with the same amount of lentiviral vector encoding TREM2. The memory function of rats in each group was assessed by Morris water maze, and the expression of microglia phenotypes (iNOS and Arg-1), neuroinflammatory related factors(IL-1β, IL-6, IL-4 and IL-10) and cognition-related proteins [amyloid β1-42 (Aβ1-42) and tau] in brain tissues of rats from each group were assessed by RT-qPCR and Western blot. Results Compar