Nimodipine attenuates neuroinflammation and delayed apoptotic neuronal death induced by trimethyltin in the dentate gyrus of mice

L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (L-VGCCs) are thought to be involved in epileptogenesis and acute excitotoxicity. However, little is known about the role of L-VGCCs in neuroinflammation or delayed neuronal death following excitotoxic insult. We examined the effects of repeated treatment with the L-VGCC blocker nimodipine on neuroinflammatory changes and delayed neuronal apoptosis in the dentate gyrus following trimethyltin (TMT)-induced convulsions. Male C57BL/6 N mice were administered TMT (2.6 mg/kg, i.p.), and the expression of the Ca_v1.2 and Ca_v1.3 subunits of L-VGCC were evaluated. The expression of both subunits was significantly decreased; however, the astroglial expression of Ca_v1.3 L-VGCC was significantly induced at 6 and 10 days after TMT treatment. Furthermore, astroglial Ca_v1.3 L-VGCCs colocalized with both the pro-inflammatory phenotype marker C3 and the anti-inflammatory phenotype marker S100A10 of astrocytes. Nimodipine (5 mg/kg, i.p. × 5 at 12-h intervals) did not significantly affect TMT-induced astroglial activation. However, nimodipine significantly attenuated the pro-inflammatory phenotype changes, while enhancing the anti-inflammatory phenotype changes in astrocytes after TMT treatment. Consistently, nimodipine reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory astrocytes-to-microglia mediators, while increasing the levels of anti-inflammatory astrocytes-to-microglia mediators. These effects were accompanied by an increase in the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), supporting our previous finding that p-ERK is a signaling factor that regulates astroglial phenotype changes. In addition, nimodipine significantly attenuated TMT-induced microglial activation and delayed apoptosis of dentate granule neurons. Our results suggest that L-VGCC blockade attenuates neuroinflammation and delayed neurotoxicity following TMT-induced convulsions through the regulation of astroglial phenotypic changes by promoting ERK signaling.