Local and remote cellular responses following a surgical lesion in the Cebus apella cerebral cortex

Distribution of bromodeoxyuridine immunoreactive (BrdU-IR) cell nuclei was analyzed at proximal and remote cortical sites in adult Cebus apella monkeys after a programmed surgical lesion placed either in the prefrontal or in the striate cerebral cortex. Increased GFAP-IR and vimentin-IR astrocytes, as well as IsolectinB4 labeled microglial cells, were observed both at lesional and perilesional areas. After injury at either location, the BrdU nuclear incorporation spread to supragranular layers in remote cortical areas functionally related to the injured cortex, probably due to involvement of degenerated cortico-cortical association fibers. Double labeling with Ki-67 suggested that remote BrdU-IR nuclei belong to proliferating cells, but the cell type remains to be determined, since these nuclei did not correspond to NeuN, MAP2, GFAP, Vimentin and isolectinB4 labeled cells. This remote effect should be incorporated to current clinical and experimental appraisal of cortical lesions.