Abstract

BackgroundMicroglia of the central nervous system act as sentinels and rapidly react to infection or inflammation. The pathophysiological role of bone marrow-derived microglia is of particular interest because they affect neurodegenerative disorders and neuropathic pain. The hypothesis of the current study is that chronic psychological stress (chronic PS) induces the infiltration of bone marrow-derived microglia into hypothalamus by means of chemokine axes in brain and bone marrow.Methods and FindingsHere we show that bone marrow-derived microglia specifically infiltrate the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of mice that received chronic PS. Bone marrow derived-microglia are CX3CR1lowCCR2+CXCR4high, as distinct from CX3CR1highCCR2-CXCR4low resident microglia, and express higher levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) but lower levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Chronic PS stimulates the expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in PVN neurons, reduces stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) in the bone marrow and increases the frequency of CXCR4+ monocytes in peripheral circulation. And then a chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 2 (CCR2) or a β3-adrenoceptor blockade prevents infiltration of bone marrow-derived microglia in the PVN.ConclusionChronic PS induces the infiltration of bone marrow-derived microglia into PVN, and it is conceivable that the MCP-1/CCR2 axis in PVN and the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis in bone marrow are involved in this mechanism.

Highlights

  • Microglia are innate immune-defense cells that react to brain infection and inflammation

  • Repeated exposure of psychological stress (PS) to mice induces the recruitment of bone marrow derived-microglia into the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), which is an important locus for stress-induced functional disorders [20,21]

  • The number of GFP positive cells in PVN was increased in mice received whole body irradiation compared to mice received specific body irradiation with head protection, indicating that irradiation affected the permeability of BBB

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Summary

Introduction

Microglia are innate immune-defense cells that react to brain infection and inflammation. The recruitment of bone marrow-derived cells into the brain in functional disorders caused by stress has not been well studied. The hypothesis of the current study is that chronic psychological stress (chronic PS) induces the infiltration of bone marrow-derived microglia into hypothalamus by means of chemokine axes in brain and bone marrow. Chronic PS stimulates the expression of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in PVN neurons, reduces stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) in the bone marrow and increases the frequency of CXCR4+ monocytes in peripheral circulation. Conclusion: Chronic PS induces the infiltration of bone marrow-derived microglia into PVN, and it is conceivable that the MCP-1/CCR2 axis in PVN and the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis in bone marrow are involved in this mechanism

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