Research Express@NCKU - Articles Digest
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Research Express@NCKU Volume 24 Issue 7 - August 16, 2013 [ http://research.ncku.edu.tw/re/articles/e/20130816/3.html ]
Differential distribution and activation of microglia in
the brain of male C57BL/6J mice
Ting-Ting Yang
1, Chingju Lin
2, Chao-Tien Hsu
3, Tzu-Feng Wang
3, Fang-Yi Ke
3, Yu-Min
Kuo
3,*1 Department of Chinese Medicine for Post-Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 2 Department of Physiology, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
3 Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan kuoym@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Brain Structure & Function. Epub ahead of print, DOI: 0.1007_s00429-012-0446-x
M
icroglia constantly undergo different degrees of transformation in order to cope with environmental changes and maintain homeostasis of the CNS. However, chronic microglia activation is known to injury surrounding neurons. In this study, we found that among the 22 examined brain nuclei/regions, the substantia nigra had the highest microglia density in the male mice. Upon the challenge by a single intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharides, microglia morphological changes were evident within 3 h and lasted for longer than three weeks, with the highest degree of changes also in thesubstantia nigra. Previously, we have demonstrated that systemic inflammation will lead to the death of dopaminergic neurons. Thus, these works suggest that the high density of microglia in the substantia nigra makes this brain region the most susceptible area to systemic immunological insults. Because loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra may cause motor impairment and Parkinson’s disease, our works also provide an association between Parkinson’s disease and inflammation.
