Molecular characterization of glial cells in a neuroinflammatory model of Cx3cr1 GFP/+ mutant mouse line

Abstract

Glial cells alter their morphology and molecular profile in response to stimuli from their surrounding environment. This ability makes them the foremost defence against inflammatory conditions in the brain. However, information about the inflammatory response and heterogeneity of glial cells still remains limited. The aim of this study was to characterize the molecular profile of glial cells in a LPS-induced neuroinflammatory model of Cx3cr1GFP/+ heterozygous mice. Flow cytometry analysis was performed in order to determine variations in glial cell abundancy, MHC II expression and expression of multiple microglia-specific markers (CX3CR1, CD11b, CD172a, CD200R and CD115) in three different brain regions – hippocampus, cerebral cortex and cerebellum. We observed several alterations in the receptors’ surface expression in response to LPS with notable heterogeneity between different regions, as well as remarkable variation in the basal surface expression levels. This study aims to broaden current knowledge of the heterogeneity and inflammatory molecular profile of glial cells