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NOS2 Gene Deficiency Protects from Sepsis-Induced Long-Term Cognitive Deficits

To date, long-term consequences of septic encephalopathy on cerebral metabolism, cognition, learning, and memory capabilities and factors involved are poorly understood. In this study, we used a murine sepsis model to demonstrate that bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) causes long-term cognitive deficits in mice. Two months after LPS treatment, wild-type mice committed more working and reference memory errors than controls. The behavioral impairment was independent of the cerebral glucose uptake as evidenced by 18F-Fluordeoxyglucose small animal positron emission tomography. In contrast, mice deficient for the inducible nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS2−/−) did not show any cognitive changes when challenged with LPS. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that LPS did not lead to neuronal cell death but caused sustained microglial activation in wild-type as compared to NOS2−/− mice. Expression analysis showed that LPS-treated NOS2−/− mice had lower brain mRNA levels for proinflammatory factors compared with wild-type mice. Expression analysis demonstrated distinct changes in the content of synaptic proteins in wild-type mice, which were not observed in the NOS2−/− mice. Together, this data set outlines the importance of the NOS2 activation for long-term cerebral changes after severe sepsis.