Biphasic cellular response to transection in the newt optic nerve: glial reactivity precedes axonal degeneration

Tenascin-R inhibits the growth of optic fibers in vitro but is rapidly eliminated during nerve regeneration in the salamander Pleurodeles waltl

Tenascin-R is a multidomain molecule of the extracellular matrix in the CNS with neurite outgrowth inhibitory functions. Despite the fact that in amphibians spontaneous axonal regeneration of the optic nerve occurs, we show here that the molecule appears concomitantly with myelination during metamorphosis and is present in the adult optic nerve of the salamander Pleurodeles waltl by immunoblots and immunohistochemistry. In vitro, adult retinal ganglion cell axons were not able to grow from retinal explants on a tenascin-R substrate or to cross a sharp substrate border of tenascin-R in the presence of laminin, indicating that tenascin-R inhibits regrowth of retinal ganglion cell axons. After an optic nerve crush, immunoreactivity for tenascin-R was reduced to undetectable levels within 8 d. Immunoreactivity for the myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) was also diminished by that time. Myelin was removed by phagocytosing cells at 8-14 d after the lesion, as demonstrated by electron microscopy. Tenascin-R immunoreactivity was again detectable at 6 months after the lesion, correlated with remyelination as indicated by MAG immunohistochemistry. Regenerating axons began to repopulate the distal lesioned nerve at 9 d after a crush and grew in close contact with putative astrocytic processes in the periphery of the nerve, close to the pia, as demonstrated by anterograde tracing. Thus, the onset of axonal regrowth over the lesion site was correlated with the removal of inhibitory molecules in the optic nerve, which may be necessary for successful axonal regeneration in the CNS of amphibians.

Macrophages, microglia, and astrocytes are rapidly activated after crush injury of the goldfish optic nerve: a light and electron microscopic analysis

Several matrix and adhesion molecules in fish optic nerve, which are constitutively expressed, are increased during axonal regeneration and are primarily associated with nonneuronal cells (W.P. Battisti, Y. Shinar, M. Schwartz, P. Levitt, and M. Murray [1992] J. Neurocytol. 21:557-573). The current study examines the reactions of specific cell types to optic nerve crush and axonal regeneration. The goldfish optic nerve contains macroglia and microglia as well as a population of monocyte-derived cells (granular macrophages) unique to goldfish. Two cell types were OX-42 positive (granular macrophages and microglia), indicating monocyte lineage, each with a distinct morphology and distribution within the nerve. Within hours of the optic nerve crush, the number of OX-42-labeled cell profiles increased near the crush site, remained elevated during the time axons were elongating, and then declined. Microglia, but not granular macrophages, were phagocytically active. Astrocytes are readily identified in the normal optic nerve, but they exhibited marked morphologic changes within hours of injury, which is consistent with the contribution these cells make to the altered environment. Oligodendroglia could not be reliably identified in regenerating optic nerves until myelin was formed. A comparison of the distribution of OX-42-labeled cells with that of transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF-beta 1) and tenascin suggests that these molecules are expressed by granular macrophages. Tenascin staining may be additionally associated with astrocytes and/or microglia. The rapid response of these nonneuronal cells to injury, their rapid phagocytic activity, and the secretion of growth-promoting factors by these cells likely contributes to the environment that supports robust regeneration by optic axons in the goldfish.

Behaviour of macroglial cells, as identified by their intermediate filament complement, during optic nerve regeneration of Xenopus tadpole

Assessment of glial cell behaviour during optic nerve (ON) regeneration in Xenopus tadpoles is hampered by the lack of classical cellular markers that distinguish different glial cells in mammals. We thus have characterized the intermediate filament (IF) complement of tadpole glial cells and used it to follow the fate of glial cell subsets during the first 10 days after ON crush. Glial cells synthesize a restricted number of cytokeratin (CK) species and vimentin. This pattern remains essentially unchanged during metamorphosis and regeneration. However, vimentin turnover is specifically enhanced after injury. The expression of CKs and vimentin has been followed immunocytochemically in situ and in isolated cells recovered from dissociated ON segments. In the normal nerve, 79% of ramified glial cells express both CK and vimentin, 1% CK and 4% vimentin only, whereas 16% express neither IF protein. We tentatively classified CK expressing cells as mature astrocytes and those without IF proteins as oligodendrocytes. In the regenerating ON, the relative number of oligodendrocytes is decreased, while the astrocytic subset becomes accordingly larger but is decreased by day 10 already in favour of cells expressing vimentin only. Astrocytes invade the lesion site soon after crush, arrange into a central core within the distal nerve segment and establish a peripheral scaffold that is readily crossed by axons. Unlike mammalian astrocytes that remain absent from the lesion site but form a scar at some distance to it, amphibian astrocytes appear to provide active guidance to axons growing through the lesion site.

Microglial cells in the brain of Pleurodeles waltl (Urodela, Salamandridae) after wallerian degeneration in the primary visual system using Bandeiraea simplicifolia isolectin B4-cytochemistry

In the brain of the salamander Pleurodeles waltl, microglial cells were investigated cytochemically with isolectin B4 (IB4) of Bandeiraea simplicifolia after optic nerve transection and during subsequent regeneration. Double-labeling with an antibody directed against the glial fibrillary acidic protein of astrocytes revealed no immunoreactivity in microglial cells and confirmed the absence of non-radial, free astroglial cells in the tectum. After two days, IB4-labeled microglial cells began to populate the rostral parts of the primary visual system. The origin of these early vimentin-immunoreactive microglial cells seemed to be mainly IB4-labeled cells in a perivascular position and meningeal macrophages. After 12 days, microglial cells infiltrated the tectum in four layers: one in the ependyma, one in the outermost periventricular grey, and two in the degenerating visual neuropil where activated microglial cells displayed a ramified morphology. After 3 weeks, microglial cells accumulated within the degenerating neuropil while reducing their processes. After 7 weeks, the number of microglial cells was still increased on the affected side. The subarachnoid space above the neuropil where regenerating retinal afferents arrived was filled with IB4-labeled macrophages. Only very few microglial cells were seen in co-existence with Müller cells in the lesioned and intact retinae, whereas microglial cells and macrophages were IB4-labeled in the optic nerve head and at the ora serrata.

Macrophage response during axonal regeneration in the axolotl central and peripheral nervous system

We have used a monoclonal antibody (5F4) and Griffonia lectin to study the recruitment of macrophages after crushing axolotl central and peripheral axons. In both cases axonal regeneration begins within one to two days and, in the CNS, proceeds at a rate of about 0.05 mm per day. However, in the spinal cord, macrophage entry is restricted to the lesion site whilst in peripheral nerves macrophages rapidly enter the distal nerve stump after injury. These results suggest that the role (if any) played by macrophages during axonal regeneration may differ in these two situations.

Regeneration in the Xenopus tadpole optic nerve is preceded by a massive macrophage/microglial response

Changes in the optic nerve following a crush lesion and during axonal regeneration have been studied in Xenopus tadpoles, using ultrastructural and immunohistological methods. Degeneration of both unmyelinated and myelinated axons is very rapid and leads to the formation, within 5 days, of a nerve which consists largely of degeneration debris and cells. Immunohistological analysis with monoclonal antibody 5F4 shows that there is a rapid and extensive microglial/macrophage response to crush of the nerve. Regenerating axons have begun to enter the distal stump by 5 days and grow along the outer part of the nerve in close approximation to the astrocytic glia limitans. Between 5 and 10 days after nerve crush, regenerating axons reach and pass the chiasma. Macrophages are seen in the nerve at the site of the lesion within 1 h, and the response peaks between 3-5 days, just before axonal regeneration gets under way.

Microglia in tadpoles of Xenopus laevis: normal distribution and the response to optic nerve injury

We have studied the distribution of microglia in normal Xenopus tadpoles and after an optic nerve lesion, using a monoclonal antibody (5F4) raised against Xenopus retinas of which the optic nerves had been cut 10 days previously. The antibody 5F4 selectively recognizes macrophages and microglia in Xenopus. In normal animals microglia are sparsely but widely distributed throughout the retina, optic nerve, diencephalon and mesencephalon (other regions were not examined). After crush or cut of an optic nerve, or eye removal, there occurs an extensive microglial response along the affected optic pathway. Within 18 h an increase in the number of microglial cells in the optic tract and tectum can be detected. This response increases to peak at around 5 days after the lesion. At this time the nerve distal to the lesion contains many microglial cells; the entire optic tract is outlined by microglia, extended along the degenerating fibres; and the affected tectum shows a heavy concentration of microglia. This microglial response thereafter decreases and has mostly gone by 34 days. We conclude that the microglial response to optic nerve injury in Xenopus tadpoles starts early, peaks just before the regenerating optic nerve axons enter the brain, and is much diminished by the time the retinotectal projection is re-established. The timing is such that the microglial response could play a major role in facilitating regeneration.