Dataset Information

Fast microglial activation after severe traumatic brain injuries.

ABSTRACT: Traumatic brain injury is among the leading causes of death in individuals under 45 years of age. However, since trauma mechanisms and survival times differ enormously, the exact mechanisms leading to the primary and secondary injury and eventually to death after traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain unclear. Several studies showed the versatile functions of microglia, the innate macrophages of the brain, following a TBI. Earlier being characterized as rather neurotoxic, neuroprotective capacities were recently demonstrated, therefore, making microglia one of the key players following TBI. Especially in cases with only short survival times, immediate microglial reactions are of great forensic interest in questions of wound age estimation. Using standardized immunohistochemical methods, we examined 8 cases which died causatively of TBI with survival times between minutes and 7 days and 5 control cases with cardiovascular failure as the cause of death to determine acute changes in microglial morphology and antigen expression after TBI. In this pilot study, we detected highly localized changes in microglial morphology already early after traumatic damage, e.g., activated microglia and phagocyted erythrocytes in the contusion areas in cases with minute survival. Furthermore, an altered antigen expression was observed with increasing trauma wound age, showing similar effects like earlier transcriptomic studies. There is minute data on the direct impact of shear forces on microglial morphology. We were able to show localization-depending effects on microglial morphology causing localized dystrophy and adjacent activation. While rodent studies are widespread, they fail to mimic the exact mechanisms in human TBI response. Therefore, more studies focusing on cadaveric samples need to follow to thoroughly define the mechanisms leading to cell destruction and eventually evaluate their forensic value.

SUBMITTER: Lier J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7578125 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fast microglial activation after severe traumatic brain injuries.

Lier Julia J Ondruschka Benjamin B Bechmann Ingo I Dreßler Jan J

International journal of legal medicine 20200505 6

Traumatic brain injury is among the leading causes of death in individuals under 45 years of age. However, since trauma mechanisms and survival times differ enormously, the exact mechanisms leading to the primary and secondary injury and eventually to death after traumatic brain injury (TBI) remain unclear. Several studies showed the versatile functions of microglia, the innate macrophages of the brain, following a TBI. Earlier being characterized as rather neurotoxic, neuroprotective capacities ...[more]

PMID: 32372233

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Project description:Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), activation of microglia and peripherally derived inflammatory macrophages occurs in association with tissue damage. This neuroinflammatory response may have beneficial or detrimental effects on neuronal survival, depending on the functional polarization of these cells along a continuum from M1-like to M2-like activation states. The mechanisms that regulate M1-like and M2-like activation after TBI are not well understood, but appear in part to reflect the redox state of the lesion microenvironment. NADPH oxidase (NOX2) is a critical enzyme system that generates reactive oxygen species in microglia/macrophages. After TBI, NOX2 is strongly up-regulated in M1-like, but not in M2-like polarized cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that NOX2 drives M1-like neuroinflammation and contributes to neurodegeneration and loss of neurological function after TBI. In the present studies we inhibited NOX2 activity using NOX2-knockout mice or the selective peptide inhibitor gp91ds-tat. We show that NOX2 is highly up-regulated in infiltrating macrophages after injury, and that NOX2 deficiency reduces markers of M1-like activation, limits tissue loss and neurodegeneration, and improves motor recovery after moderate-level control cortical injury (CCI). NOX2 deficiency also promotes M2-like activation after CCI, through increased IL-4Rα signaling in infiltrating macrophages, suggesting that NOX2 acts as a critical switch between M1- and M2-like activation states after TBI. Administration of gp91ds-tat to wild-type CCI mice starting at 24h post-injury reduces deficits in cognitive function and increased M2-like activation in the hippocampus. Collectively, our data indicate that increased NOX2 activity after TBI drives M1-like activation that contributes to inflammatory-mediated neurodegeneration, and that inhibiting this pathway provides neuroprotection, in part by altering M1-/M2-like balance towards the M2-like neuroinflammatory response.

Project description:Severe impacts to the head commonly lead to localized brain damage. Such impacts may also give rise to temporary pressure changes that produce secondary injuries in brain volumes distal to the impact site. Monitoring pressure changes in a clinical setting is difficult; detailed studies into the effect of pressure changes in the brain call for the development and use of animal models. The aim of this study is to characterize the pressure distribution in an animal model of penetrating traumatic brain injuries (pTBI). This data may be used to validate mathematical models of the animal model and to facilitate correlation studies between pressure changes and pathology. Pressure changes were measured in rat brains while subjected to pTBI for a variety of different probe velocities and shapes; pointy, blunt, and flat. Experiments on ballistic gel samples were carried out to study the formation of any temporary cavities. In addition, pressure recordings from the gel experiments were compared to values recorded in the animal experiments. The pTBI generated short lasting pressure changes in the brain tissue; the pressure in the contralateral ventricle (CLV) increased to 8 bar followed by a drop to 0.4 bar when applying flat probes. The pressure changes in the periphery of the probe, in the Cisterna Magna, and the spinal canal, were significantly less than those recorded in the CLV or the vicinity of the skull base. High-speed videos of the gel samples revealed the formation of spherically shaped cavities when flat and spherical probes were applied. Pressure changes in the gel were similar to those recorded in the animals, although amplitudes were lower in the gel samples. We concluded cavity expansion rate rather than cavity size correlated with pressure changes in the gel or brain secondary to probe impact. The new data can serve as validation data for finite element models of the trauma model and the animal and to correlate physical measurements with secondary injuries.

Dataset Information

Fast microglial activation after severe traumatic brain injuries.

Publications

Fast microglial activation after severe traumatic brain injuries.

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