Glia
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Comparative Study
Iron homeostasis in astrocytes and microglia is differentially regulated by TNF-α and TGF-β1.
Abnormal iron homeostasis is increasingly thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative disorders. We have previously reported impaired iron homeostasis in a mouse model of spinal cord injury and in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Both these disorders are associated with CNS inflammation. ⋯ Iron influx and efflux assays in vitro confirmed that iron homeostasis in astrocytes and microglia is differentially regulated by these cytokines. In particular, TNF-α caused an increase in iron uptake and retention by both astrocytes and microglia, while TGF-β1 promoted iron efflux from astrocytes but caused iron retention in microglia. These data suggest that these two cytokines, which are expressed in CNS inflammation in injury and disease, can have profound and divergent effects on iron homeostasis in astrocytes and microglia.
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Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has been associated with inflammation and apoptosis. The CCL2-CCR2 chemotactic system is one of the major signaling pathways that induce inflammation and apoptosis. However, its role on ICH has not been investigated. ⋯ In addition, we also found that FL- and K104Stop-CCL2 were able to restore the changes found in CCL2(-/-) mice, but K104A-CCL2 failed to do so. These results suggest that plasmin-mediated truncation of CCL2 may be an indispensable step to fully activate the chemokine in vivo. The data also indicate that CCL2-CCR2 signaling pathway may be a molecular target for the treatment of ICH.