GABAergic synapses suppress intestinal innate immunity via insulin signaling in <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>
Zhongfan Zheng, Xiumei Zhang, Junqiang Liu, Ping He, Shan Zhang, Yongning Zhang, Jie Gao, Shengmei Yang, Na Kang, Muhammad Irfan Afridi, Shangbang Gao, Chunhong Chen, Haijun Tu
Abstract
Significance GABAergic signaling is crucial for the physiological function and the pathological onset of neuropsychiatric disorder, but its roles in innate immunity remain unknown. Here, we reveal that pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection up-regulates the expression of synaptic components and enhances synaptic strength at GABAergic neuromuscular junctions, induces insulin-like peptide INS-31 in the muscles, and ultimately suppresses innate immunity in the intestine of C. elegans . This signaling axis of synapse–muscular insulin–intestinal innate immunity may play an important role in the maintenance of immunological homeostasis to promote host survival.