Expression of BAFF and BAFF receptors in primary Sjögren's syndrome patients with ectopic germinal center-like structures

B cell-activating factor (BAFF) is an essential cytokine in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) physiopathology. It has been reported that pSS patients develop germinal center-like (GC-like) structures in their minor salivary glands (MSGs). BAFF, BAFF-R, TACI, and BCMA expression was analyzed in MSGs from 29 subjects (nonspecific chronic sialadenitis and focal lymphocytic sialadenitis with the presence [pSS-GC(+)] or absence [pSS-GC(-)] of GC-like structures). Twenty-four percent of patients showed ectopic GC-like structures and a high focus score [p < 0.001 vs pSS-GC(-)]. BAFF serum levels (sBAFF) were high in pSS patients (p = 0.025 vs healthy subjects). However, the pSS-GC(-) group showed higher sBAFF levels than pSS-GC(+) patients. BAFF and BAFF-R glandular expression levels were higher in pSS-GC(+) patients, without significant differences compared to pSS-GC(-) patients. Soluble levels of BAFF correlated with anti-La/SSB antibodies and disease duration. Our results showed that BAFF could contribute to focal lymphocytic infiltration. The role of BAFF-binding receptors in MSGs is proposed as a mechanism for the possible establishment of ectopic GC-like structures and disease progression in some patients. In conclusion, this study supports previous evidence that considers the active BAFF system role in the pathogenesis of pSS and the need for strong biomarkers in this disease.

Responses of glial cells to stress and glucocorticoids

A growing body of evidence suggests that glial cells are involved in practically all aspects of neural function. Glial cells regulate the homeostasis of the brain, influence the development of the nervous system, modulate synaptic activity, and carry out the immune response inside the brain. In addition, they play an important role in the restoration of the nervous system after damage, and they also participate in various neurodegenerative disorders. In a similar way, the importance of stress and glucocorticoids (GCs) on brain function is being increasingly recognized. Within the brain, stress hormones target both neurons and glial cells. Through their actions on these cells, glucocorticoids exert organizational functions on various processes of the developing brain and contribute to neuronal plasticity in the adult brain. Moreover, stress and glucocorticoids have become especially attractive in the study of a number of neurodegenerative disorders. However, studies on the mechanisms behind glucocorticoid-induced regulation of brain function have been classically focused on their effects on neurons. In this review, we start by describing the main functions of glial cells and then proceed to present data highlighting the effects of stress and GCs on brain function. We conclude the review by presenting recent evidence linking stress and glucocorticoids to glial cell function.

Increased lipid peroxidation and neuron specific enolase in treatment refractory schizophrenics

It is well-known that increased lipid peroxidation and failure of antioxidant mechanisms leads to neuronal damage in schizophrenic patients. However, this neurodegenerative mechanism has not been studied in treatment refractory schizophrenics (TRS). Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine neuronal damage in TRS in comparison to non-refractory schizophrenics (NRS) by means of quantitative analysis of lipid peroxidation and neuron specific enolase (NSE) related to the psychopathology severity. Two groups of paranoid schizophrenics, TRS and NRS, and a group of healthy controls (CO) were assembled (n=13). Lipid peroxidation was analyzed through spectrophotometry for quantification of malonaldehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) serum concentrations. As well, serum NSE was quantified by radioimmunoassay (ELSA). Psychopathology was evaluated using the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) and the positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS). TRS showed significant higher concentrations of lipoperoxides by-products and NSE, than NRS and CO. Clinical scores also revealed a more severe pathology in TRS, than in NRS. Raised lipoperoxidation correlated with higher delusions and emotional withdrawal symptoms, and increased NSE correlated with a lower flow of the conversation and lack of spontaneity. All these results together suggest that TRS patients suffer a greater lipid peroxidation and neuronal damage than NRS, apparently related to worsening of some of the psychiatric symptoms.

Beneficial effects of alpha-lipoic acid plus vitamin E on neurological deficit, reactive gliosis and neuronal remodeling in the penumbra of the ischemic rat brain

During cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, the enhanced production of oxygen-derived free radicals contributes to neuronal death. The antioxidants alpha-lipoic acid and vitamin E have shown synergistic effects against lipid peroxidation by oxidant radicals in several pathological conditions. A thromboembolic stroke model in rats was used to analyze the effects of this mixture under two oral treatments: intensive and prophylactic. Neurological functions, glial reactivity and neuronal remodeling were assessed after experimental infarction. Neurological recovery was only found in the prophylactic group, and both antioxidant schemes produced down-regulation of astrocytic and microglial reactivity, as well as higher neuronal remodeling in the penumbra area, as compared with controls. The beneficial effects of this antioxidant mixture suggest that it may be valuable for the treatment of cerebral ischemia in humans.

Prednisone induces anxiety and glial cerebral changes in rats

OBJECTIVE

To assess whether prednisone (PDN) produces anxiety and/or cerebral glial changes in rats.

METHODS

Male Wistar rats were studied and 3 groups were formed (8 rats per group). The moderate-dose group received 5 mg/kg/day PDN released from a subcutaneous implant. In the high-dose group, implants containing PDN equivalent to 60 mg/kg/day were applied. In the control group implants contained no PDN. Anxiety was assessed using an open field and elevated plus-maze devices. The number of cells and cytoplasmic transformation of astrocytes and microglia cells were assessed by immunohistochemical analyses.

RESULTS

Anxiety was documented in both groups of PDN treated rats compared with controls. The magnitude of transformation of the microglia assessed by the number of intersections was significantly higher in the PDN groups than in controls in the prefrontal cortex (moderate-dose, 24.1; high-dose, 23.6; controls 18.7; p < 0.01) and striatum (moderate-dose 25.6; high-dose 26.3; controls 18.9; p < 0.01), but not in hippocampus. The number of stained microglia cells was significantly higher in the PDN treated groups in the prefrontal cortex than in controls (moderate-dose, 29.1; high-dose, 28.4; control, 17.7 cells per field; p < 0.01). Stained microglia cells were significantly more numerous striatum and hippocampus in the high-dose group compared to controls.

CONCLUSION

Subacute exposure to PDN induced anxiety and reactivity of microglia. The relevance of these features for patients using PDN remains to be elucidated.

Synaptic remodeling in the arcuate nucleus during the estrous cycle is induced by estrogen and precedes the preovulatory gonadotropin surge

We have shown that the ovarian cycle is accompanied by a fall in the axosomatic synapses on randomly selected neurons of the arcuate nucleus by the morning of estrus, with a return to the preovulatory levels by the morning of metestrus, indicating a possible role in positive feedback. However, it remains to be proven that the circulating estradiol is the actual regulator of this physiological synaptic plasticity, or that estrogen-induced synaptic retraction precedes in the surge of gonadotropins at midcycle. To resolve these questions, we used an estradiol-immunoneutralization protocol and studied arcuate nucleus axosomatic synapses during the critical points of the estrous cycle. In addition to blocking positive feedback, estrogen immunoneutralization abolished synaptic retraction in the arcuate nucleus. As a positive control, the nonbinding estrogen diethylstilbestrol maintained the gonadotropin surge and synaptic retraction in the antiestradiol-treated animals. Furthermore, in the diluent-treated cycling control females, the synaptic retraction was found to precede the preovulatory LH surge. We demonstrated that the midcycle synaptic retraction of arcuate nucleus synapses is induced by the preovulatory estradiol surge, and that these morphological events precede the preovulatory gonadotropin surge. Taken together, these observations strongly suggest that the hypothalamic mechanism underlying the physiological disinhibition of gonadotropins at midcycle (positive feedback) requires estrogen-induced synaptic retraction in the arcuate nucleus.

Gonadal hormones down-regulate reactive gliosis and astrocyte proliferation after a penetrating brain injury

Astrocytes are a target for gonadal steroids in the normal brain. The putative modulation by gonadal hormones of the astrocytic reaction to brain injury was assessed in this study. Male and female adult Wistar albino rats were gonadectomized and, one month later, their brains were lesioned by a longitudinal incision crossing the parietal cerebral cortex, the CA1 field of the dorsal hippocampus and the dentate gyrus. Males were injected either with testosterone (20 micrograms/rat) or vehicle immediately after surgery. Females were injected either with 17 beta estradiol (250 micrograms/rat), progesterone (500 micrograms/rat) or vehicle. Hormonal injections were repeated 24 and 48 h after brain injury. All animals received injections of 5'-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to label proliferating cells. Histological sections from the brain of animals killed 72 h after surgery were used for the double immunohistochemical localization of BrdU and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The number of GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes and the number of double labelled astrocytes (GFAP + BrdU) were recorded as a function of the distance to the lesion site in the parietal cerebral cortex, the CA1 field of the hippocampus and the dentate gyrus. Testosterone, estradiol and progesterone treatments resulted in a significant decrease in the number of GFAP-immunolabeled reactive astrocytes in the vicinity of the wound. The number of double labelled cells and the labelling index (proportion of GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes labelled with BrdU) varied according to the cerebral area, the distance to the wound and the sex of the animals, and were significantly decreased by gonadal steroids in all the areas examined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Natural fluctuation and gonadal hormone regulation of astrocyte immunoreactivity in dentate gyrus

The number and the surface density of cells immunoreactive for the specific astrocytic marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), were evaluated in both the hilus of the dentate gyrus and the granular layer of the vermis of the cerebellar cortex of adult female rats during the different phases of the estrous cycle, after ovariectomy and after the pharmacological administration of estradiol and/or progesterone to ovariectomized rats. Although no significant differences were detected in the number of immunoreactive cells among the different experimental groups studied, their surface density showed significant changes in the hilus of the dentate gyrus. The surface density of immunoreactive cells was increased in the afternoon of proestrus and on the morning of estrus compared to the morning of proestrus, diestrus, and metestrus, was decreased after ovariectomy, and showed a dose-dependent increase in ovariectomized rats injected with 17 beta estradiol (1, 10, or 300 micrograms/rat), alone or in combination with progesterone (500 micrograms/rat). In contrast, it was not affected by the administration of 17 alpha estradiol (300 micrograms/rat). The surface density of immunoreactive cells was significantly increased over control values by 5 h after the injection of 17 beta estradiol (300 micrograms/rat) and as early as 1 h after the administration of progesterone. The separate injection of either 17 beta estradiol or progesterone had smaller effects on the surface density of immunoreactive cells than did the administration of both hormones together. The surface density of GFAP-immunoreactive cells reached maximal values by 24 h after the administration of 17 beta estradiol and/or progesterone and returned to control levels by 48 h after the combined injection of progesterone and 17 beta estradiol, while in the rats that were injected with only one of the two hormones, the surface density of immunoreactive cells remained over control values for at least 9 days. No such hormonal effects on GFAP-immunoreactive cells were observed in the cerebellar cortex.