Live imaging of astrocyte responses to acute injury reveals selective juxtavascular proliferation

Sophia Bardehle; Martin Krüger; Felix Buggenthin; Julia Schwausch; Jovica Ninkovic; Hans Clevers; Hugo J Snippert; Fabian J Theis; Melanie Meyer-Luehmann; Ingo Bechmann; Leda Dimou; Magdalena Götz

doi:10.1038/nn.3371

Live imaging of astrocyte responses to acute injury reveals selective juxtavascular proliferation

Nat Neurosci. 2013 May;16(5):580-6. doi: 10.1038/nn.3371. Epub 2013 Mar 31.

Authors

Sophia Bardehle¹, Martin Krüger, Felix Buggenthin, Julia Schwausch, Jovica Ninkovic, Hans Clevers, Hugo J Snippert, Fabian J Theis, Melanie Meyer-Luehmann, Ingo Bechmann, Leda Dimou, Magdalena Götz

Affiliation

¹ Physiological Genomics, Institute of Physiology, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Munich, Germany.

PMID: 23542688
DOI: 10.1038/nn.3371

Abstract

Astrocytes are thought to have important roles after brain injury, but their behavior has largely been inferred from postmortem analysis. To examine the mechanisms that recruit astrocytes to sites of injury, we used in vivo two-photon laser-scanning microscopy to follow the response of GFP-labeled astrocytes in the adult mouse cerebral cortex over several weeks after acute injury. Live imaging revealed a marked heterogeneity in the reaction of individual astrocytes, with one subset retaining their initial morphology, another directing their processes toward the lesion, and a distinct subset located at juxtavascular sites proliferating. Although no astrocytes actively migrated toward the injury site, selective proliferation of juxtavascular astrocytes was observed after the introduction of a lesion and was still the case, even though the extent was reduced, after astrocyte-specific deletion of the RhoGTPase Cdc42. Thus, astrocyte recruitment after injury relies solely on proliferation in a specific niche.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family
Animals
Astrocytes / cytology*
Astrocytes / physiology*
Astrocytes / ultrastructure
Blood Vessels / metabolism
Blood Vessels / pathology*
Blood Vessels / ultrastructure
Brain Injuries / pathology*
Calcium-Binding Proteins / genetics
Cell Proliferation
Disease Models, Animal
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1 / genetics
Gene Deletion
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism
Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Isoenzymes / genetics
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Transgenic
Phosphoproteins / genetics
Retinal Dehydrogenase / genetics
cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein / genetics

Substances

CAPS protein, Oryctolagus cuniculus
Calcium-Binding Proteins
Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 1
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
Isoenzymes
Phosphoproteins
Slc1a3 protein, mouse
Green Fluorescent Proteins
Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family
ALDH1A1 protein, mouse
Retinal Dehydrogenase
cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein