The impact of age and gender on the striatal astrocytes activation  in murine model of Parkinson's disease.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to determine how aging and gender influence the response of astrocytes to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropiridine (MPTP) intoxication.


METHODS
To asses the MPTP-induced astrocytes activation in nigro-striatal system, we measured the temporal changes in mRNA and protein expression of the specific astrocytic marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP; by RT-PCR and Western blot), in the striatum of male and female C57BL/6 mice (2 and 12-month old) after 6 h and 1, 3, 7, 14 and 21 days post-intoxication.


RESULTS
We observed the increases of GFAP mRNA level post-MPTP intoxication in both young and aging males only at early time points, whereas in females (both ages) also at later time points. We noticed maximal increase of GFAP protein content on the 3rd day post-intoxication in young and aged males, whereas in females at the 7-daytime point.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results provide additional information of potential relevance to understand the mechanisms of gender and age-related difference in susceptibility of nigro-striatal system to MPTP insult.
Second Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland. Agnieszka.Ciesielska@ucsf.edu
Agnieszka
A
Ciesielska
I
I
Joniec
I
I
Kurkowska-Jastrzebska
A
A
Cudna
A
A
Przybyłkowski
A
A
Członkowska
A
A
Członkowski
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020267:MPTP Poisoning / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D012333:RNA, Messenger