NADPH-diaphorase activity in brain macrophages during postnatal development in the rat

NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry, that allows the visualization of cells producing the gaseous intercellular messenger nitric oxide, was used in the study of the forebrain during the first three postnatal weeks in the rat. Subpopulations of NADPH-diaphorase positive neurons were observed at all ages studied. In addition, non-neuronal NADPH-diaphorase-stained cells were detected in the subcortical white matter, and were very numerous in the supraventricular portion of the corpus callosum, and in the internal and external capsules. These cells were present during the first two postnatal weeks, and were especially prominent at the end of the first postnatal week. They were round-shaped and morphologically similar to the brain macrophages, whose phagocytic activity has been shown in previous studies to play a role in naturally occurring cell death and elimination of exhuberant axons. Series of sections adjacent to those stained with NADPH-diaphorase were processed with immunohistochemistry, using two different antibodies (OX-42 and ED-1) that detect macrophagic and microglial markers, and antibodies that recognize the neuronal form of nitric oxide synthase. Furthermore, brain sections from rats at postnatal day 7 were sequentially processed for either OX-42 or nitric oxide synthase immunohistochemistry followed by NADPH-diaphorase histochemistry. The morphological features and distribution of the non-neuronal NADPH-diaphorase-positive cells were superimposable to those obtained with OX-42 and ED-1 immunohistochemistry. In addition, these cells did not display nitric oxide synthase immunoreactivity. Double-labelled NADPH-diaphorase-positive and OX-42-immunoreactive cells were detected at postnatal day 7. The present results show that brain macrophages express NADPH-diaphorase activity during the early stages of the normal postnatal maturation and suggest that nitric oxide produced by brain macrophages could be involved in the development reshaping of the central nervous system.