Browsing by Subject "Microglial cells"
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- PublicationRestrictedNeuroinflammation and gliosis in the injured and contralateral retinas after unilateral optic nerve crush(Elsevier, 2023-08-22) Cabrera Maqueda, José María; Boia, Raquel; Lucas Ruiz, Fernando; González Riquelme, María José; Ambrosio, Antonio Francisco; Santiago, Ana Raquel; Vidal Sanz, Manuel; Agudo Barriuso, Marta; Galindo Romero, Caridad; Oftalmología, Optometría, Otorrinolaringología y Anatomía PatológicaThe main purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of unilateral optic nerve crush in the gene expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, and gliosis markers in injured and contralateral retinas. Retinas from intact, unilaterally optic nerve injured or sham-operated C57BL/6J mice were analyzed 1, 3, 9 and 30 days after the surgery (n = 5/group and time point) and the relative expression of TGF-β1, IL-1β, TNF-α, Iba1, AQP4, GFAP, MHCII, and TSPO was analyzed in injured and contralateral using qPCR. The results indicated that compared with intact retinas, sham-operated animals showed an early (day 1) upregulation of IL-1β, TNF-α and TSPO and a late (day 30) upregulation of TNF-α. In sham-contralateral retinas, TNF-α and TSPO mRNA expression were upregulated and day 30 while GFAP, Iba1, AQP4 and MHCII downregulated at day 9. Compared with sham-operated animals, in retinas affected by optic nerve crush GFAP and TSPO upregulated at day 1 and TNF-α, Iba1, AQP4 and MHCII at day 3. In the crushed-contralateral retinas, TGF-β1, TNF-α, Iba1 and MHCII were upregulated at day 1. TSPO was upregulated up to day 30 whereas TGF-β1 and Iba1 downregulated after day 9. In conclusion, both sham surgery and optic nerve crush changed the profile of inflammatory and gliosis markers in the injured and contralateral retinas, changes that were more pronounced for optic nerve crush when compared to sham.
- PublicationOpen AccessRegion-specific response of central microglial cells to sciatic nerve demyelination through sensory and motor pathways(Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histiologia, 2024) Wu, Shuang; Su, Yuxin; Wang, Yuqing; Wang, Jia; Xu, Dongsheng; Liu, Yihan; Yang, Kunwu; Gao, Junhong; Cui, JingjingPeripheral nerve injury can cause changes in microglial cells on the spinal dorsal and ventral horns. This region-specific response implies that central microglial cells could be activated through both sensory and motor pathways. In order to further determine how peripheral nerve injury activates central microglial cells through neural pathways, the sciatic nerve was selected as the target for neural tract tracing and demyelination. Firstly, we used cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) to map the central sensory and motor territories of the sciatic nerve. Secondly, we applied lysophosphatidylcholine to establish the model of sciatic nerve demyelination and examined the distribution of activated microglial cells via immunofluorescence with ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1. It was shown that CTB labeling included the transganglionically labeled sensory afferents and retrogradely labeled somata of motor neurons along the sensory and motor pathways of the sciatic nerve ipsilateral to the injection, in which sensory afferents terminated on the gracile nucleus, Clarke’s nucleus, and spinal dorsal horn, while motor neurons located on the spinal ventral horn. Consistently, after sciatic nerve demyelination, the activated microglial cells were observed in the same territories as CTB-labeling, showing shortened processes and enlarged cell bodies. These results support the idea that central microglia might be activated by signals from the demyelinated sciatic nerve through both sensory and motor pathways.
- PublicationOpen AccessSystemic inflammation aggravates retinal ganglion cell vulnerability to optic nerve trauma in adult rats(MDPI, 2026-02-03) Rovere, Giuseppe ; Caja Matas, Yolanda; Vidal Villegas, Beatriz; Bernal Garro, José M. ; Sobrado Calvo, Paloma; Salinas Navarro, Manuel Ángel; Nucci, Carlo; Villegas Pérez, Maria Paz; Vidal Sanz, Manuel; Agudo Barriuso, Marta; Nadal-Nicolás, Francisco Manuel; Oftalmología, Optometría, Otorrinolaringología y Anatomía Patológica; Facultades de la UMU::Facultad de MedicinaSystemic inflammation is increasingly recognized as a modifier of neurodegenerative outcomes in the central nervous system; however, its impact on retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival and retinal microglial responses following optic nerve (ON) injury in vivo remains incompletely understood. In this study, we investigated how systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation influences retinal microglial activation and RGC vulnerability under physiological conditions and after traumatic ON damage. In adult female rats, systemic LPS administration by intraperitoneal injection induced rapid and robust microglial activation, characterized by process retraction and soma hypertrophy within hours and promoting microglial proliferation at later stages but without causing RGC loss in intact retinas. Following ON crush, systemic inflammation did not affect early RGC degeneration but significantly exacerbated neuronal loss during the late acute phase. This increased vulnerability was accompanied by a marked rise in microglial density and a pronounced redistribution of microglia toward the central retina and the ON head, a region of heightened anatomical and metabolic susceptibility. Together, these findings demonstrate that, in rats, systemic inflammation alone is insufficient to induce RGC degeneration but acts as a potent priming factor that amplifies neurodegeneration in the context of axonal injury. The temporal and spatial specificity of microglial responses underscores their context-dependent role in retinal pathology and identifies systemic inflammatory status as a critical determinant of retinal outcome after trauma. Targeted, time-dependent modulation of microglial activation may therefore represent a promising therapeutic strategy for optic neuropathies.