title: Appearance of phagocytic microglia adjacent to motoneurons in spinal cord tissue from a presymptomatic transgenic rat model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Microglial activation occurs early during the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Recent evidence indicates that the expression of mutant Cu(2+)/Zn(2+) superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in microglia contributes to the late disease progression of ALS. However, the mechanism by which microglia influence the neurodegenerative process and disease progression in ALS remains unclear. In this study, we revealed that activated microglia aggregated in the lumbar spinal cord of presymptomatic mutant SOD1(H46R) transgenic rats, an animal model of familial ALS. The aggregated microglia expressed a marker of proliferating cell, Ki67, and phagocytic marker proteins ED1 and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II. The motoneurons near the microglial aggregates showed weak choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity and contained reduced granular endoplasmic reticulum and altered nucleus electron microscopically. Furthermore, immunopositive signals for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were localized in the aggregated microglia. These results suggest that the activated and aggregated microglia represent phagocytic features in response to early changes in motoneurons and possibly play an important role in ALS disease progression during the presymptomatic stage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Neuroscience, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sanagi
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuasa
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Warita
authors.forename: Yasuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoyama
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uchino
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohsaka
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohsawa
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005911:Gliosis / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017628:Microglia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000235:genetics; D000072105:Superoxide Dismutase-1
chemical_list: C000606290:SOD1 protein, human; C000606292:Sod1 protein, rat; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D000072105:Superoxide Dismutase-1