Deletion of YTHDF1 (not YTHDF3) reduced brain and gut damage after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To determine whether YTHDF1 and YTHDF3 play the same role in brain and gut damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: We generated YTHDF1-/- and YTHDF3-/- mice using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, established a mouse brain injury model through severe controlled cortical impact (CCI), and finally observed the different types of damage between YTHDF1-/- and YTHDF3-/- mice by analysing the levels of oedema proteins in cortical tissue and inflammatory proteins and histopathological lesions in brain and gut tissues in mice at 3 days after CCI. Result: Compared with WT mice, YTHDF1-/- mice had decreased levels of oedema in cortical tissue and inflammation and histopathological lesions in brain and gut tissues at 3 days post-CCI, but YTHDF3-/- mice did not. Conclusion: Our results suggest that deletion of YTHDF1, but not YTHDF3, could reduce damage to the brain and gut following TBI.