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Characteristic Changes of Astrocyte and Microglia in Rat Striatum Induced by 3-NP and MCAO

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Abstract

Our previous studies had confirmed that both 3-NP and MCAO induced the behavioral defect as well as striatal neuronal injury and loss in experimental rats. This study aimed to examine different response forms of striatal astrocyte and microglia in 3-NP and MCAO rat models. The present results showed that the immunoreaction for GFAP was extremely weak in the lesioned core of striatum, but in the transition zone of 3-NP model and the penumbra zone of MCAO model, GFAP+ cells showed strong hypertrophic and proliferative changes. Statistical analysis for the number, size and integral optical density (IOD) of GFAP+ cells showed significant differences when compared with their controls and compared between the core and the transition zone or the penumbra zone, respectively, but no differences between the 3-NP and MCAO groups. However, Iba-1+ cells showed obvious hypertrophy and proliferation in the injured striatum in the 3-NP and the MCAO models, especially in the transition zone of 3-NP model and the penumbra zone of MCAO model. These Iba-1+ cells displayed two characteristic forms as branching cells with thick processes and amoeboid cells with thin processes. Statistical analysis showed that the number, size and IOD of Iba-1+ cells were significantly increased in the cores and the transition zone of 3-NP group and the penumbra zone of MCAO group than that of the controls, and the immune response of Iba-1 was stronger in the MCAO group than in the 3-NP group. The present results suggested that characteristic responses of astrocyte and microglia in the 3-NP and the MCAO models display their different effects on the pathological process of brain injury.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81471288, 81301063 and 31070941) and by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program, No. 2010CB530004).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Anatomy, Zhongshan School of Medicine, SUN Yat-sen University, 74 Zhongshan Rd 2, Guangzhou, 510080, China

      Lisi Ouyang, Mali Zhan, Si Chen, Jiajia Wu, Jiachang Chen, Xianyou Wei, Weiping Wang & Wanlong Lei

    2. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

      Shuhua Mu & Jian Zhang

    3. Department of Anesthesiology, Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Provincial Emergency Hospital, Guangzhou, China

      Bingbing Liu

    4. School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Nanhai Ave 3688, Shenzhen, 518060, China

      Jian Zhang

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    1. Shuhua Mu
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    Correspondence to Jian Zhang or Wanlong Lei.

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    Shuhua Mu and Bingbing Liu have contributed equally to this article.

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    Mu, S., Liu, B., Ouyang, L. et al. Characteristic Changes of Astrocyte and Microglia in Rat Striatum Induced by 3-NP and MCAO. Neurochem Res 41, 707–714 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-015-1739-2

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