title: Inflammatory responses in the rat superior colliculus after eye enucleation.
abstract: Ocular enucleation induces profound morphological alterations in central visual areas. However, little is known about the response of glial cells and possible inflammatory processes in visual brain areas resulting from eye enucleation. In this study, immunoblotting and immunostaining assays revealed increased expression of astrocyte and microglia markers in the rat superior colliculus (SC) between 1 and 15 days after contralateral enucleation. A transient increase of neuronal COX-2 protein expression was also found in the SC. To evaluate the role of an anti-inflammatory drug in attenuating both COX-2 and glial cell activation, the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) was administered (1 mg/kg i.p., for 3 days) to enucleated rats. Immunoblotting data revealed that DEX treatment significantly inhibited COX-2 protein expression. Postlesion immunostaining for astrocyte and microglia markers was also significantly reduced by DEX treatment. These findings suggest that the removal of retinal ganglion cell input generates inflammatory responses in central retinorecipient structures.
authors: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, USP, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: marinash@icb.usp.br.
authors: Marina S
authors: MS
authors: Hernandes
authors: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, USP, SP, Brazil.
authors: Luiz R G
authors: LR
authors: Britto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D015353:Eye Enucleation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D017628:Microglia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D039942:Neuropilin-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D039942:Neuropilin-1; D003907:Dexamethasone; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C489691:Ptgs2 protein, rat
keywords: COX-2; Eye enucleation; Glial cells; Visual system