Glial cell responses in a murine multifactorial perinatal brain injury model

The impact of traumatic brain injury during the perinatal period, which coincides with glial cell (astrocyte and oligodendrocyte) maturation was assessed to determine whether a second insult, e.g., increased inflammation due to remote bacterial exposure, exacerbates the initial injury's effects, possibly eliciting longer-term brain damage. Thus, a murine multifactorial injury model incorporating both mechanisms consisting of perinatal penetrating traumatic brain injury, with or without intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an analog of remote pathogen exposure has been developed. Four days after injury, gene expression changes for different cell markers were assessed using mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and qPCR. Astrocytic marker mRNA levels increased in the stab-alone and stab-plus-LPS treated animals indicating reactive gliosis. Activated microglial/macrophage marker levels, increased in the ipsilateral sides of stab and stab-plus LPS animals by P10, but the differences resolved by P15. Ectopic expression of glial precursor and neural stem cell markers within the cortical injury site was observed by ISH, suggesting that existing precursors and neural stem cells migrate into the injured areas to replace the cells lost in the injury process. Furthermore, single exposure to LPS concomitant with acute stab injury affected the oligodendrocyte population in both the injured and contralateral uninjured side, indicating that after compromise of the blood-brain barrier integrity, oligodendrocytes become even more susceptible to inflammatory injury. This multifactorial approach should lead to a better understanding of the pathogenic sequelae observed as a consequence of perinatal brain insult/injury, caused by combinations of trauma, intrauterine infection, hypoxia and/or ischemia in humans.