Project description:We used single-cell RNA sequencing to profile immune cells in the injured spinal cord parenchyma and lymphatic endothelial cells in the spinal cord meninges from young and aged mice. This help us understand the heterogeneity of the immune response after injury and how it is altered in aging. Moreover, the data obtained from the spinal cord meninges provides novel molecular insights into how the meninges may contribute to the repair process.
Project description:We used single-cell RNA sequencing to profile immune cells in the injured spinal cord parenchyma and lymphatic endothelial cells in the spinal cord meninges from young and aged mice. This help us understand the heterogeneity of the immune response after injury and how it is altered in aging. Moreover, the data obtained from the spinal cord meninges provides novel molecular insights into how the meninges may contribute to the repair process.
Project description:We used single-cell RNA sequencing to profile immune cells in the injured spinal cord parenchyma and lymphatic endothelial cells in the spinal cord meninges from young and aged mice. This help us understand the heterogeneity of the immune response after injury and how it is altered in aging. Moreover, the data obtained from the spinal cord meninges provides novel molecular insights into how the meninges may contribute to the repair process.
Project description:In contrast to the migration of leukocytes from blood vessels into tissues, and the involvement of adhesion molecules and chemokines in this process, the migration of leukocytes from the tissue into lymphatic vessels is much less well understood. This can, in part be explained by the fact that murine lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) have proven particularly hard to isolate and propagate in culture. Hence, it has been difficult to establish suitable models to study this process in vitro. Combining magnetic bead-based purification and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), we have isolated LECs (immorto-LECs) from the skin of mice which express a temperature-sensitive SV40 large T antigen (H-2Kb-tsA58 mice; ImmortoMice) in all cell types under the control of the MHC-class-I-promotor, H-2Kb. The isolated cells are viable for more than 30 passages when cultured at 33 M-BM-:C, the temperature at which the large T antigen is stably expressed. Furthermore, immorto-LECs tolerate several days of culture at 37 M-BM-:C, but become senescent if continuously cultured at this temperature. All cells stably express endothelial and lymphatic markers like CD31, podoplanin, Prox-1 and VEGFR-3 up to passage 30. When cultured in presence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), immorto-LECs upregulate adhesion molecules, such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin, similarly to what has been reported to occur under inflammatory conditions in vivo. Overall, our findings establish immorto-LECs as a useful and handy tool for the in vitro investigation of immune cell transmigration across lymphatic endothelium. imLEC were cultured at 33 M-BM-:C until they reached approx. 70% confluence. Cells were then transferred to 37 M-BM-:C and cultured for 3 days in order to induce T antigen degradation. RNA was isolated from 3 different cultures of passages 13, 14 and 18
Project description:In contrast to the migration of leukocytes from blood vessels into tissues, and the involvement of adhesion molecules and chemokines in this process, the migration of leukocytes from the tissue into lymphatic vessels is much less well understood. This can, in part be explained by the fact that murine lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) have proven particularly hard to isolate and propagate in culture. Hence, it has been difficult to establish suitable models to study this process in vitro. Combining magnetic bead-based purification and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), we have isolated LECs (immorto-LECs) from the skin of mice which express a temperature-sensitive SV40 large T antigen (H-2Kb-tsA58 mice; ImmortoMice) in all cell types under the control of the MHC-class-I-promotor, H-2Kb. The isolated cells are viable for more than 30 passages when cultured at 33 ºC, the temperature at which the large T antigen is stably expressed. Furthermore, immorto-LECs tolerate several days of culture at 37 ºC, but become senescent if continuously cultured at this temperature. All cells stably express endothelial and lymphatic markers like CD31, podoplanin, Prox-1 and VEGFR-3 up to passage 30. When cultured in presence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a), immorto-LECs upregulate adhesion molecules, such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin, similarly to what has been reported to occur under inflammatory conditions in vivo. Overall, our findings establish immorto-LECs as a useful and handy tool for the in vitro investigation of immune cell transmigration across lymphatic endothelium.
Project description:Adult zebrafish have the ability to recover from spinal cord injury and exhibit re-growth of descending axons from the brainstem to the spinal cord. We performed gene expression analysis using microarray to find damage-induced genes after spinal cord injury, which shows that Sox11b mRNA is up-regulated at 11 days after injury. However, the functional relevance of Sox11b for regeneration is not known. Here, we report that the up-regulation of Sox11b mRNA after spinal cord injury is mainly localized in ependymal cells lining the central canal and in newly differentiating neuronal precursors or immature neurons. Using an in vivo morpholino-based gene knockout approach, we demonstrate that Sox11b is essential for locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury. In the injured spinal cord, expression of the neural stem cell associated gene, Nestin, and the proneural gene Ascl1a (Mash1a), which are involved in the self-renewal and cell fate specification of endogenous neural stem cells, respectively, is regulated by Sox11b. Our data indicate that Sox11b promotes neuronal determination of endogenous stem cells and regenerative neurogenesis after spinal cord injury in the adult zebrafish. Enhancing Sox11b expression to promote proliferation and neurogenic determination of endogenous neural stem cells after injury may be a promising strategy in restorative therapy after spinal cord injury in mammals. Spinal cord injury or control sham injury was performed on adult zebrafish. After 4, 12, or 264 hrs, a 5 mm segment of spinal cord was dissected and processed (as a pool from 5 animals) in three replicate groups for each time point and treatment.
Project description:Transcriptome analysis of spinal cord microglia and total spinal cord from Lewis rats intratracheally treated with PBS, neomycin or vancomycin.