QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF MICROGLIAL CELLS IN THE DEGENERATING CEREBELLUM OF THE STAGGERER (RORAsg/sg) MUTANT MOUSE

Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-6, have been detected in the cerebellum of Rorasg/sg mice during the first postnatal month of neurodegenerative process. This suggests the existence of a microglial reaction in the context of an inflammatory process that would be tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Neurogenetics 2005-07, Vol.19 (3-4), p.143-154
Main Authors: Journiac, Nathalie, Doulazmi, Mohamed, Pajak, Fabrice, Mariani, Jean, Garabedian, Beatrice Vernet-der
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acid Anhydride Hydrolases - metabolism
Animals
Atrophy
Cell Count
Cerebellum - pathology
CNS
Cognitive Sciences
Heredodegenerative Disorders, Nervous System - genetics
Heredodegenerative Disorders, Nervous System - pathology
Inflammation
Inflammation - genetics
Inflammation - pathology
Life Sciences
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Neurologic Mutants
Microglia - pathology
Neurodegeneration
Neurons and Cognition
Rora
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Summary:Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-6, have been detected in the cerebellum of Rorasg/sg mice during the first postnatal month of neurodegenerative process. This suggests the existence of a microglial reaction in the context of an inflammatory process that would be triggered by the massive neuronal loss. To test this hypothesis, we qualitatively and quantitatively studied the microglial cell population using lectin and nucleosidic diphosphatase labeling of the cerebellum of 30-day-old mice. The massive neuronal loss induces a 11.7-fold smaller size of the Rorasg/sg cerebellum compared to wild-types. We showed that the Rorasg/sg microglia population is exclusively composed of cells displaying the characteristic morphology of activated cells, with enlarged, heavily stained cell bodies and few thick processes, in contrast to microglial cells in the wild-type. The density of microglia is 2.7-fold higher in Rorasg/sg than wild-type mice (22444±5011 cells/mm3 versus 8158±1584 cells/mm3), although the absolute number is 4-fold smaller. These results show that neurodegeneration in the Rorasg/sg cerebellum leads to persistance of microglial activation while in wild-type it disappears around P10.
ISSN:0167-7063
1563-5260
1364-6753
DOI:10.1080/01677060600569762