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Optical imaging spectroscopy of early haemodynamic changes in a rat model of neuroinflammation
Natasha Bray, Fiona Burrows, Stuart Allan, Ingo Schiessl
In: Society for Neuroscience; 13 Oct 2012-17 Nov 2012; New Orleans. Online; 2012.
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Abstract
Inflammation is a major driver of cell death in the brain after ischaemic stroke, seizure activity and traumatic injury. In order to open avenues for medical intervention we need to acquire a better understanding of the very early stages of neuroinflammation and its impact on cerebral blood flow responses to neuronal activity. In an established model of excitotoxicity, striatal injection of AMPA at a toxic dose causes cell death in the striatum after 24 hours. However, co-injection of AMPA with interleukin-1B (IL-1B, a pro-inflammatory cytokine) leads to cortical cell death in addition to striatal damage. When injected alone, IL-1â leads to little or no cell death. In this study we image the changes of the haemodynamic response in the rat barrel cortex after injection of AMPA, IL-1, AMPA+IL-1 or vehicle with two-dimensional optical imaging spectroscopy. The somatosensory cortex of the anaesthetised animals was stimulated by mechanical whisker manipulation for up to 6 hours after injection. Markers of neuroinflammation (immunoglobulin G and neutrophils) were analysed using immunohistochemistry. Animals injected with AMPA+IL-1, or IL-1 alone showed a decrease in the size of oxygenated blood response in the active whisker barrel over time. Injection of AMPA alone or vehicle caused little or no trend change in oxygenated blood response. An increase of immunoglobulin G was found in the ipsilateral hemisphere of the brains injected with IL-1 (with or without AMPA), indicating an increase in blood-brain barrier permeability. This continuing research aims to further investigate the mechanisms behind IL-1’s effects on the blood flow response. Since the reduction of blood flow response precedes neuronal death, it may be instrumental in deciding the fate of neurones at later time points.