Fenótipos microgliais e tratamento com minociclina após isquemia focal induzida por microinjeções de endotelina-1 no córtex motor de ratos adultos

Abstract

Microglial cells are fundamental components of the innate immune system that continually make a complete scan of the neural parenchyma in search of subtle tissue changes for the preservation of tissue integrity. These resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS) correspond to about 20% of the encephalic cell population. In acute and chronic neural disorders, including brain and spinal cord injury, experimental stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, microglial cells are activated, which is reflected in morphological and biochemical changes. In these diseases, it is believed that microglial activation contributes to both neuroprotection and exacerbation of the injury process. Several experimental evidences suggest that excessive microglial activation may contribute to the increase of the injury process after experimental stroke. However, our previous studies suggest that microglial cells may release trophic factors after experimental stroke in anatomically distinct regions of the microglial population with deleterious phenotypes. There are no studies that have described the reactivity patterns of the different microglial phenotypes after experimental ischemia. In the present project, we will investigate the patterns of activation of microglial cells presenting beneficial and harmful phenotypes, evaluating which microglial populations are inhibited by tetracycline minocycline after focal cortical ischemia. The animals were submitted to focal ischemia in the motor cortex by microinjections of 80 pMol of endothelin-1 (ET- 1). They were sacrificed 7, 14 and 30 days after ischemic induction. The immunohistochemistry technique for the observation of neuronal loss (NeuN +) and double immunofluorescence to evaluate the density of M1 and M2 microglial cells in the lesioned area was used. Statistical analysis of NeuN+ cell density was performed by the Student's t-test from the 7-day of control and treated groups while the analysis of the M1 and M2 microglial cells were done by the analysis of variance in the 07, 14 and 30 control groups, adopting in all tests the level of significance P <0.05. A preservation in the number of neurons in the injured parenchyma of the animals treated with minocycline was confirmed. A decrease in the number of M1 microglial cells in minocycline-treated animals was observed, suggesting that the drug may present effects on expression pathways of M1 microglial phenotypes. However, when the animals of the control group of 07, 14 and 30 are compared, there is an increase in the number of this M1 phenotype that extends from day 7 to day 30. We conclude that there is a neuroprotective effect of the drug minocycline when associated to stroke, suggesting that this drug may be involved in the modulation of microglial phenotypes requiring further studies on its function in the pathways of expression of these phenotypes.