A mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c contributes to the protective effect against brain injury associated with LPS-induced sepsis by strengthening the blood-brain barrier's ultrastructure.

Mice were given an injection of LPS, a bacterial toxin, to trigger sepsis, a whole-body infection-like state. Some of these mice also received MOTS-c, a small protein fragment, at a dose of 20 mg per kilogram of body weight, four hours before the LPS. The study included four groups: healthy controls, healthy mice given MOTS-c, septic mice, and septic mice given MOTS-c. Over the following days, the researchers tracked survival rates and a clinical score of illness severity, then examined brain tissue under a microscope, measured inflammatory molecules in the blood, and used a blue dye to check how leaky the blood-brain barrier, the protective lining around the brain, had become. The paper reports that septic mice given MOTS-c survived more often, had less brain tissue damage, lower levels of inflammatory markers, and a less leaky blood-brain barrier compared to septic mice not given the peptide.

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