A Stably Established Two-Point Injection of Lysophosphatidylcholine-Induced Focal Demyelination Model in Mice

Receptor-mediated lysophospholipid signaling contributes to the pathophysiology of diverse neurological diseases, especially multiple sclerosis (MS). Lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) is an endogenous lysophospholipid associated with inflammation, and it could induce rapid damage with toxicity to myelin lipids, leading to focal demyelination. Here, a detailed protocol is presented for stereotactic two-point LPC injection that could directly cause severe demyelination and replicate the experimental demyelination injury quickly and stably in mice by surgical procedure. Thus, this model is highly relevant to demyelination diseases, especially MS, and it can contribute to the related advancing clinically-relevant research. Also, immunofluorescence and Luxol fast blue staining methods were used to depict the time course of demyelination in the corpus callosum of mice injected with LPC. In addition, the behavioral method was used to evaluate the cognitive function of mice after modeling. Overall, the two-point injection of lysophosphatidylcholine via a stereotaxic frame is a stable and reproducible method to generate a demyelination model in mice for further study.