title: Age-dependent differences in microglial responses to systemic inflammation are evident as early as middle age.
abstract: Whereas age increases microglial inflammatory activities and impairs their ability to effectively regulate their immune response, it is unclear at what age these exaggerated responses begin. We tested the hypotheses that augmented microglial responses to inflammatory challenge are present as early as middle age and that repeated stimulation of primed microglia in vivo would reveal microglial senescence. Microglial gene expression was investigated in a mouse model of repeated systemic inflammation induced by intraperitoneal injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Following LPS, microglia from middle-aged mice (9-10 mo) displayed larger increases in Tnfα, Il-6, and Il-1β gene expression compared with young adults (2 mo). Similar results were observed in the spleens of middle-aged mice, indicating that exaggeration of both central and peripheral immune responses are already evident at early middle age. Interestingly, despite greater proinflammatory responses to the first LPS challenge in the aged mice, there were no age-dependent differences in either microglia or spleen following a subsequent LPS dose, suggesting that animals at this age retain the ability to effectively control their immune response following repeated challenge. The exacerbated microglial immune response to systemic inflammation at early middle age suggests that the CNS may be vulnerable to age-dependent alterations earlier than previously appreciated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nikodemova
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Alissa L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Small
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Rebecca S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kimyon
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin jjwatters@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Jyoti J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Watters
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000276:immunology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000276:immunology*; D053583:Interleukin-1beta / Q000276:immunology; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000276:immunology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D017628:Microglia / Q000276:immunology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D053583:Interleukin-1beta; D015850:Interleukin-6; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: M1/M2 mRNA; flow cytometry; gene expression; lipopolysaccharide; mouse; spleen