scholarly journals Extravascular CX3CR1+Cells Extend Intravascular Dendritic Processes into Intact Central Nervous System Vessel Lumen

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 778-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah S. Barkauskas ◽  
Teresa A. Evans ◽  
Jay Myers ◽  
Agne Petrosiute ◽  
Jerry Silver ◽  
...  

AbstractWithin the central nervous system (CNS), antigen-presenting cells (APCs) play a critical role in orchestrating inflammatory responses where they present CNS-derived antigens to immune cells that are recruited from the circulation to the cerebrospinal fluid, parenchyma, and perivascular space. Available data indicate that APCs do so indirectly from outside of CNS vessels without direct access to luminal contents. Here, we applied high-resolution, dynamic intravital two-photon laser scanning microscopy to directly visualize extravascular CX3CR1+APC behavior deep within undisrupted CNS tissues in two distinct anatomical sites under three different inflammatory stimuli. Surprisingly, we observed that CNS-resident APCs dynamically extend their cellular processes across an intact vessel wall into the vascular lumen with preservation of vessel integrity. While only a small number of APCs displayed intravascular extensions in intact, noninflamed vessels in the brain and the spinal cord, the frequency of projections increased over days in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model, whereas the number of projections remained stable compared to baseline days after tissue injury such as CNS tumor infiltration and aseptic spinal cord trauma. Our observation of this unique behavior by parenchyma CX3CR1+cells in the CNS argues for further exploration into their functional role in antigen sampling and immune cell recruitment.

1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (11) ◽  
pp. 1415-1424 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. B. Demopoulos ◽  
E. S. Flamm ◽  
M. L. Seligman ◽  
D. D. Pietronigro ◽  
J. Tomasula ◽  
...  

The hypothesis that pathologic free-radical reactions are initiated and catalyzed in the major central nervous system (CNS) disorders has been further supported by the current acute spinal cord injury work that has demonstrated the appearance of specific, cholesterol free-radical oxidation products. The significance of these products is suggested by the fact that: (i) they increase with time after injury; (ii) their production is curtailed with a steroidal antioxidant; (iii) high antioxidant doses of the steroidal antioxidant which curtail the development of free-radical product prevent tissue degeneration and permit functional restoration. The role of pathologic free-radical reactions is also inferred from the loss of ascorbic acid, a principal CNS antioxidant, and of extractable cholesterol. These losses are also prevented by the steroidal antioxidant. This model system is among others in the CNS which offer distinctive opportunities to study, in vivo, the onset and progression of membrane damaging free-radical reactions within well-defined parameters of time, extent of tissue injury, correlation with changes in membrane enzymes, and correlation with readily measurable in vivo functions.


Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1453-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.E. Dickinson ◽  
R. Krumlauf ◽  
A.P. McMahon

The analysis of mutant alleles at the Wnt-1 locus has demonstrated that Wnt-1-mediated cell signalling plays a critical role in development of distinct regions of the embryonic central nervous system (CNS). To determine how these signals participate in the formation of the CNS, we have ectopically expressed this factor in the spinal cord under the control of the Hoxb-4 Region A enhancer. Ectopic Wnt-1 expression causes a dramatic increase in the number of cells undergoing mitosis in the ventricular region and a concomitant ventricular expansion. Although this leads to consistent changes in the relative proportions of dorsal and ventral regions, Wnt-1 does not appear to act as a primary patterning signal. Rather, our experiments indicate that Wnt-1 can act as a mitogen in the developing CNS.


Author(s):  
J.N. Turner ◽  
J. Swann ◽  
K. Smith ◽  
M. Siemens ◽  
D. Szarowski ◽  
...  

Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is capable of three-dimensional imaging of fluorescently labeled single cells. Efficient detection via a photomultiplier and optical sectioning with high rejection of light from other specimen levels make it possible to image cells surrounded by either labeled or unlabeled tissue. It is no longer necessary to restrict high resolution light microscopy to cultured cells or those near the surface of a tissue sample. Cells can be observed üin situ” in a physiologically characterized environment. Central nervous system neurons can be electrophysiologically characterized and then injected with a fluorescent dye such as lucifer yellow. The CLSM can excite the dye and image the fluorescent emission in thick tissue preparations (hundreds of micrometers) making possible a new approach to the correlation of physiology and anatomy.Brain slices 350 μm thick were obtained from hippocampus and inferior colliculus of immature rats and incubated in oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Cells were penetrated with micropipets, characterized electrophysiologically and ionophoretically injected with 5% lucifer yellow in LiAc.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1221-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joerg R. Weber ◽  
Klemens Angstwurm ◽  
Thomas Rosenkranz ◽  
Ute Lindauer ◽  
Dorette Freyer ◽  
...  

Heparin is a natural proteoglycan that was first described in 1916. In addition to its well characterized effect on blood coagulation, it is becoming clear that heparin also modulates inflammatory processes on several levels, including the interference with leukocyte–endothelium interaction. Anecdotal observations suggest a better clinical outcome of heparin-treated patients with bacterial meningitis. The authors demonstrate that heparin, a glycosaminoglycan, inhibits significantly in the early phase of experimental pneumococcal meningitis the increase of 1) regional cerebral blood flow (125 ± 18 versus 247 ± 42%), 2) intracranial pressure (4.5 ± 2.0 versus 12.1 ± 2.2 mm Hg), 3) brain edema (brain water content: 78.23 ± 0.33 versus 79.49 ± 0.46%), and 4) influx of leukocytes (571 ± 397 versus 2400 ± 875 cells/μL) to the cerebrospinal fluid compared with untreated rats. To elucidate the possible mechanism of this observation, the authors investigated for the first time leukocyte rolling in an inflammatory model in brain venules by confocal laser scanning microscopy in vivo. Heparin significantly attenuates leukocyte rolling at 2, 3, and 4 hours (2.8 ± 1.3 versus 7.9 ± 3.2/100 μm/min), as well as leukocyte sticking at 4 hours (2.1 ± 0.4 versus 3.5 ± 1.0/100 μm/min) after meningitis induction compared with untreated animals. The authors conclude that heparin can modulate acute central nervous system inflammation and, in particular, leukocyte–endothelium interaction, a key process in the cascade of injury in bacterial meningitis. They propose to evaluate further the potential of heparin in central nervous system inflammation in basic and clinical studies.


2009 ◽  
Vol 296 (3) ◽  
pp. R512-R520 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Smith ◽  
A. P. Chambers ◽  
C. J. Price ◽  
W. Ho ◽  
C. Hopf ◽  
...  

Adipose tissue plays a critical role in energy homeostasis, secreting adipokines that control feeding, thermogenesis, and neuroendocrine function. Leptin is the prototypic adipokine that acts centrally to signal long-term energy balance. While hypothalamic and brain stem nuclei are well-established sites of action of leptin, we tested the hypothesis that leptin signaling occurs in the subfornical organ (SFO). The SFO is a circumventricular organ (CVO) that lacks the normal blood-brain barrier, is an important site in central autonomic regulation, and has been suggested to have a role in modulating peripheral signals indicating energy status. We report here the presence of mRNA for the signaling form of the leptin receptor in SFO and leptin receptor localization by immunohistochemistry within this CVO. Central administration of leptin resulted in phosphorylation of STAT3 in neurons of SFO. Whole cell current-clamp recordings from dissociated SFO neurons demonstrated that leptin (10 nM) influenced the excitability of 64% (46/72) of SFO neurons. Leptin was found to depolarize the majority of responsive neurons with a mean change in membrane potential of 7.3 ± 0.6 mV (39% of all SFO neurons), while the remaining cells that responded to leptin hyperpolarized (−6.9 ± 0.7 mV, 25% of all SFO neurons). Similar depolarizing and hyperpolarizing effects of leptin were observed in recordings from acutely prepared SFO slice preparations. Leptin was found to influence the same population of SFO neurons influenced by amylin as three of four cells tested for the effects of bath application of both amylin and leptin depolarized to both peptides. These observations identify the SFO as a possible central nervous system location, with direct access to the peripheral circulation, at which leptin may act to influence hypothalamic control of energy homeostasis.


1979 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 756-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Norenberg

The results of a light microscopic immunohistochemical study of glutamine synthetase in rat nervous system are presented. In all sites studied the enzyme was confined to astrocytes. Except for trace amounts in ependymal cells, the enzyme was not observed in other cells of the nervous system including neurons, choroid plexus, third ventricular tanycytes, subependymal cells and mesodermally-derived elements. The intensity of astrocyte staining varied in different regions with the greatest degree noted in the hippocampus and cerebellar cortex while the least was noted in brain stem, deep cerebellar nuclei and spinal cord. The glutamine synthetase content correlated well with sites of suspected glutamergic activity in keeping with the view of a critical role of astrocytes in the regulation of the putative neurotransmitter glutamic acid.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
James B. Talmage ◽  
Jay Blaisdell

Abstract Injuries that affect the central nervous system (CNS) can be catastrophic because they involve the brain or spinal cord, and determining the underlying clinical cause of impairment is essential in using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides), in part because the AMA Guides addresses neurological impairment in several chapters. Unlike the musculoskeletal chapters, Chapter 13, The Central and Peripheral Nervous System, does not use grades, grade modifiers, and a net adjustment formula; rather the chapter uses an approach that is similar to that in prior editions of the AMA Guides. The following steps can be used to perform a CNS rating: 1) evaluate all four major categories of cerebral impairment, and choose the one that is most severe; 2) rate the single most severe cerebral impairment of the four major categories; 3) rate all other impairments that are due to neurogenic problems; and 4) combine the rating of the single most severe category of cerebral impairment with the ratings of all other impairments. Because some neurological dysfunctions are rated elsewhere in the AMA Guides, Sixth Edition, the evaluator may consult Table 13-1 to verify the appropriate chapter to use.


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