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Macrophagic and microglial responses after focal traumatic brain injury in the female rat. J Neuroinflammation 2014 Apr 24;11:82

Date

04/26/2014

Pubmed ID

24761998

Pubmed Central ID

PMC4022366

DOI

10.1186/1742-2094-11-82

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-84899953493 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   135 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: After central nervous system injury, inflammatory macrophages (M1) predominate over anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2). The temporal profile of M1/M2 phenotypes in macrophages and microglia after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats is unknown. We subjected female rats to severe controlled cortical impact (CCI) and examined the postinjury M1/M2 time course in their brains.

METHODS: The motor cortex (2.5 mm left laterally and 1.0 mm anteriorly from the bregma) of anesthetized female Wistar rats (ages 8 to 10 weeks; N = 72) underwent histologically moderate to severe CCI with a 5-mm impactor tip. Separate cohorts of rats had their brains dissociated into cells for flow cytometry, perfusion-fixed for immunohistochemistry (IHC) and ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging or flash-frozen for RNA and protein analysis. For each analytical method used, separate postinjury times were included for 24 hours; 3 or 5 days; or 1, 2, 4 or 8 weeks.

RESULTS: By IHC, we found that the macrophagic and microglial responses peaked at 5 to 7 days post-TBI with characteristics of mixed populations of M1 and M2 phenotypes. Upon flow cytometry examination of immunological cells isolated from brain tissue, we observed that peak M2-associated staining occurred at 5 days post-TBI. Chemokine analysis by multiplex assay showed statistically significant increases in macrophage inflammatory protein 1α and keratinocyte chemoattractant/growth-related oncogene on the ipsilateral side within the first 24 hours after injury relative to controls and to the contralateral side. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated expression of both M1- and M2-associated markers, which peaked at 5 days post-TBI.

CONCLUSIONS: The responses of macrophagic and microglial cells to histologically severe CCI in the female rat are maximal between days 3 and 7 postinjury. The response to injury is a mixture of M1 and M2 phenotypes.

Author List

Turtzo LC, Lescher J, Janes L, Dean DD, Budde MD, Frank JA

Author

Matthew Budde PhD Associate Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Analysis of Variance
Animals
Brain
Brain Injuries
Calcium-Binding Proteins
Cytokines
Disease Models, Animal
Female
Flow Cytometry
Gene Expression Regulation
Macrophages
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Microfilament Proteins
Microglia
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Time Factors