Glial cell diversification in the rat optic nerve

A central challenge in developmental neurobiology is to understand how an apparently homogeneous population of neuroepithelial cells in the early mammalian embryo gives rise to the great diversity of nerve cells (neurons) and supporting cells (glial cells) in the mature central nervous system. Because the optic nerve is one of the several types of glial cells but no intrinsic neurons, it is an attractive place to investigate how neuroepithelial cells diversify. Studies of developing rat optic nerve cells in culture suggest that both cell-cell interactions and intrinsic cellular programs play important parts in glial cell diversification.     

Axonal elongation into peripheral nervous system "bridges" after central nervous system injury in adult rats

The origin, termination, and length of axonal growth after focal central nervous system injury was examined in adult rats by means of a new experimental model. When peripheral nerve segments were used as "bridges" between the medulla and spinal cord, axons from neurons at both these levels grew approximately 30 millimeters. The regenerative potential of these central neurons seems to be expressed when the central nervous system glial environment is changed to that of the peripheral nervous system.     

Interleukin-1 immunoreactive innervation of the human hypothalamus

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a cytokine that mediates the acute phase reaction. Many of the actions of IL-1 involve direct effects on the central nervous system. However, IL-1 has not previously been identified as an intrinsic component within the brain, except in glial cells. An antiserum directed against human IL-1 beta was used to stain the human brain immunohistochemically for IL-1 beta-like immunoreactive neural elements. IL-1 beta-immunoreactive fibers were found innervating the key endocrine and autonomic cell groups that control the central components of the acute phase reaction. These results indicate that IL-1 may be an intrinsic neuromodulator in central nervous system pathways that mediate various metabolic functions of the acute phase reaction, including the body temperature changes that produce the febrile response.     

Specific tropism of HIV-1 for microglial cells in primary human brain cultures

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) frequently causes neurological dysfunction and is abundantly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS) of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with HIV encephalitis or myelopathy. The virus is found mostly in cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage within the CNS, but the possibility of infection of other glial cells has been raised. Therefore, the effects of different HIV-1 and HIV-2 strains were studied in primary cultures of adult human brain containing microglial cells, the resident CNS macrophages, and astrocytes. These cultures could be productively infected with macrophage-adapted HIV-1 isolates but not with T lymphocyte-adapted HIV-1 isolates or two HIV-2 isolates. As determined with a triple-label procedure, primary astrocytes did not express HIV gag antigens and remained normal throughout the 3-week course of infection. In contrast, virus replicated in neighboring microglial cells, often leading to their cell fusion and death. The death of microglial cells, which normally serve immune functions in the CNS, may be a key factor in the pathogenesis of AIDS encephalitis or myelopathy.     

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells reprogrammed to become multipotential CNS stem cells

During animal development, cells become progressively more restricted in the cell types to which they can give rise. In the central nervous system (CNS), for example, multipotential stem cells produce various kinds of specified precursors that divide a limited number of times before they terminally differentiate into either neurons or glial cells. We show here that certain extracellular signals can induce oligodendrocyte precursor cells to revert to multipotential neural stem cells, which can self-renew and give rise to neurons and astrocytes, as well as to oligodendrocytes. Thus, these precursor cells have greater developmental potential than previously thought.     

Turning blood into brain: cells bearing neuronal antigens generated in vivo from bone marrow

Bone marrow stem cells give rise to a variety of hematopoietic lineages and repopulate the blood throughout adult life. We show that, in a strain of mice incapable of developing cells of the myeloid and lymphoid lineages, transplanted adult bone marrow cells migrated into the brain and differentiated into cells that expressed neuron-specific antigens. These findings raise the possibility that bone marrow-derived cells may provide an alternative source of neurons in patients with neurodegenerative diseases or central nervous system injury.     

Spatial buffering of light-evoked potassium increases by retinal Müller (glial) cells

Activity-dependent variations in extracellular potassium concentration in the central nervous system may be regulated, in part, by potassium spatial buffering currents in glial cells. The role of spatial buffering in the retina was assessed by measuring light-evoked potassium changes in amphibian eyecups. The amplitude of potassium increases in the vitreous humor was reduced to approximately 10 percent by 50 micromolar barium, while potassium increases in the inner plexiform layer were largely unchanged. The decrease in the vitreal potassium response was accurately simulated with a numerical model of potassium current flow through Müller cells, the principal glial cells of the retina. Barium also substantially increased the input resistance of Müller cells and blocked the Müller cell-generated M-wave, indicating that barium blocks the potassium channels of Müller cells. Thus, after a light-evoked potassium increase within the retina, there is a substantial transfer of potassium from the retina to the vitreous humor by potassium current flow through Müller cells.     

The EGF receptor kinase substrate p35 in the floor plate of the embryonic rat CNS

P35 is a calcium- and phospholipid-binding protein that was originally isolated as a substrate for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor tyrosine kinase and later was found to be related to lipocortin I. Immunohistochemistry was used to localize p35 to a raphe of primitive glial ependymal cells in the median one-third of the floor plate in the central nervous system (CNS) of rat embryos. The p35 appears by embryonic day 12 before the arrival of pioneering ventral commissural axons. The unexpected, discrete distribution of this protein during development opens the question of its role in neural morphogenesis.     

Amacrine-signaled loss of intrinsic axon growth ability by retinal ganglion cells

The central nervous system (CNS) loses the ability to regenerate early during development, but it is not known why. The retina has long served as a simple model system for study of CNS regeneration. Here we show that amacrine cells signal neonatal rat retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) to undergo a profound and apparently irreversible loss of intrinsic axon growth ability. Concurrently, retinal maturation triggers RGCs to greatly increase their dendritic growth ability. These results suggest that adult CNS neurons fail to regenerate not only because of CNS glial inhibition but also because of a loss of intrinsic axon growth ability.     

Control of synapse number by glia

Although astrocytes constitute nearly half of the cells in our brain, their function is a long-standing neurobiological mystery. Here we show by quantal analyses, FM1-43 imaging, immunostaining, and electron microscopy that few synapses form in the absence of glial cells and that the few synapses that do form are functionally immature. Astrocytes increase the number of mature, functional synapses on central nervous system (CNS) neurons by sevenfold and are required for synaptic maintenance in vitro. We also show that most synapses are generated concurrently with the development of glia in vivo. These data demonstrate a previously unknown function for glia in inducing and stabilizing CNS synapses, show that CNS synapse number can be profoundly regulated by nonneuronal signals, and raise the possibility that glia may actively participate in synaptic plasticity.     

Trophic stimulation of cultured neurons from neonatal rat brain by epidermal growth factor

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a potent polypeptide mitogen originally isolated from the adult male mouse submaxillary gland. It also acts as a gastrointestinal hormone. EGF-immunoreactive material has recently been identified within neuronal fibers and terminals in rodent brain. In the present study, EGF was found to enhance survival and process outgrowth of primary cultures of subneocortical telencephalic neurons of neonatal rat brain in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was observed with EGF concentrations as low as 100 picograms per milliliter (0.016 nanomolar) and was dependent on the continuous presence of EGF in the medium. Similar effects were observed with basic fibroblast growth factor, but several other growth-promoting substances, including other mitogens for glial elements, were without effect. Thus EGF, in addition to its mitogenic and hormonal activities, may act as a neurite elongation and maintenance factor for select neurons of the rodent central nervous system.     

A pericyte origin of spinal cord scar tissue

There is limited regeneration of lost tissue after central nervous system injury, and the lesion is sealed with a scar. The role of the scar, which often is referred to as the glial scar because of its abundance of astrocytes, is complex and has been discussed for more than a century. Here we show that a specific pericyte subtype gives rise to scar-forming stromal cells, which outnumber astrocytes, in the injured spinal cord. Blocking the generation of progeny by this pericyte subtype results in failure to seal the injured tissue. The formation of connective tissue is common to many injuries and pathologies, and here we demonstrate a cellular origin of fibrosis.     

Conversion of normal behavior to shiverer by myelin basic protein antisense cDNA in transgenic mice

Myelin basic proteins (MBPs) are coded by the single gene necessary for myelin formation in the central nervous system of the mouse. An antisense MBP mini-gene was constructed and used to determine the function of antisense DNA in transgenic mice. Several transgenic offspring of a founder transgenic mouse, AS100, were converted from the normal to mutant shiverer phenotype. Antisense MBP messenger RNA was expressed in these mice, and the endogenous MBP messenger RNA, the MBP, and the myelination in the central nervous system were reduced.     

Viral persistence in neurons explained by lack of major histocompatibility class I expression

Viruses frequently persist in neurons, suggesting that these cells can evade immune surveillance. In a mouse model, 5 x 10(6) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), specific for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), did not lyse infected neurons or cause immunopathologic injury. In contrast, intracerebral injection of less than 10(3) CTL caused disease and death when viral antigens were expressed on leptomeningeal and choroid plexus cells of the nervous system. The neuronal cell line OBL21 expresses little or no major histocompatibility (MHC) class I surface glycoproteins and when infected with LCMV, resisted lysis by virus-specific CTLs. Expression of MHC heavy chain messenger RNA was limited, but beta 2-microglobulin messenger RNA and protein was made normally. OBL21 cells were made sensitive to CTL lysis by transfection with a fusion gene encoding another MHC class I molecule. Hence, neuronal cells probably evade immune surveillance by failing to express MHC class I molecules.     

Multiple sclerosis: distribution of T cell subsets within active chronic lesions

The distribution of T cells and T cell subsets was examined within the human central nervous system in active lesions from seven patients with chronic multiple sclerosis. The monoclonal antibodies anti-T11, anti-T4, and anti-T8 were used to detect total (whole) T cells, helper T cells, and suppressor-cytotoxic T cells, respectively, and a monoclonal antibody against human Ia was used for macrophages and B cells. Lesion progression was associated with large numbers of T4+ cells at the lesion margin and these extended great distances into the adjacent normal-appearing white matter. T8+ cells were most commonly concentrated around the lesion margin and displayed a preferential perivascular distribution. Within the lesion center, only a few T cells were found. Ia+ macrophages were most numerous within the centers of active lesions and were always present in the adjacent normal white matter. The monoclonal antibodies to T cells did not cross-react with glial cells including oligodendrocytes. These results indicate that T4+ cells are actively involved in lesion extension and Ia+ cells, in demyelination.     

In situ hybridization to study the origin and fate of identified neurons

Egg-laying behavior in Aplysia is mediated by a set of peptides, including egg-laying hormone (ELH), which are released by a cluster of identified neurons, the bag cells. A family of neuropeptide genes which includes the gene encoding ELH along with two additional genes encoding the A and B peptides thought to initiate the egg-laying process has been isolated and their nucleotide sequence has been determined. In situ hybridization and immunofluorescence was used to explore the origin and distribution of the neurons that express this family of genes. The ELH genes are expressed, not only in the bag cells, but in an extensive system of neurons distributed in four of the five ganglia of the central nervous system. The genes for ELH are expressed in these cells early in the animal's life cycle. As a result, it was possible to use in situ hybridization to trace the cells expressing ELH to their site of origin. The cells originate outside the central nervous system in the ectoderm of the body wall and appear to migrate to their final locations within the central nervous system by crawling along strands of connective tissue.     

Control of glutamate clearance and synaptic efficacy by glial coverage of neurons

Analysis of excitatory synaptic transmission in the rat hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus revealed that glutamate clearance and, as a consequence, glutamate concentration and diffusion in the extracellular space, is associated with the degree of astrocytic coverage of its neurons. Reduction in glutamate clearance, whether induced pharmacologically or associated with a relative decrease of glial coverage in the vicinity of synapses, affected transmitter release through modulation of presynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptors. Astrocytic wrapping of neurons, therefore, contributes to the regulation of synaptic efficacy in the central nervous system.     

Regenerating fish optic nerves and a regeneration-like response in injured optic nerves of adult rabbits

Regeneration of fish optic nerve (representing regenerative central nervous system) was accompanied by increased activity of regeneration-triggering factors produced by nonneuronal cells. A graft of regenerating fish optic nerve, or a "wrap-around" implant containing medium conditioned by it, induced a response associated with regeneration in injured optic nerves of adult rabbits (representing a nonregenerative central nervous system). This response was manifested by an increase of general protein synthesis and of selective polypeptides in the retinas and by the ability of the retina to sprout in culture.     

gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase in isolated brain endothelial cells: induction by glial cells in vitro

The endothelia of microvessels isolated from mouse brain by mechanical means are rich in gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; however, the enzyme often disappears when the cells migrate or proliferate from the microvessel isolates. In an endothelial cell line derived from similar isolates and negative for gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, the enzyme could be induced in the endothelial cells when they were cocultured with glial cells. Thus there may be a requirement for continuous induction of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase in brain microvessels by adjacent glial cells.