Intracerebroventricular Injection of Microglia Protects Against Focal Brain Ischemia

• DOI: 10.1254/jphs.94.203
• Publication Date: 2004-02-23T06:02:34Z
• Authors: Yoshihisa Kitamura; Kazuyuki Takata; Masatoshi Inden; Daiju Tsuchiya; Daijiro Yanagisawa; Junko Nakata; Takashi Taniguchi
• Keywords: Cell Transplantation; RM1-950; Brain Ischemia; Rats; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Animals; Brain Tissue Transplantation; Therapeutics. Pharmacology; Microglia; Rats, Wistar; Injections, Intraventricular

Microglia are macrophage-like phagocytic cells in the brain parenchyma. However, microglial function after neurodegeneration is not fully understood. In this study, occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and reperfusion caused massive neuronal loss in the rat cerebral cortex and striatum after 3 days. When exogenous microglia were microinjected into the intracerebroventricle during MCA occlusion, neurodegenerative areas significantly decreased. At that time, migrated microglia were detected in the ischemic lesion. These results suggest that exogenous microglia can migrate into brain parenchyma and then protect against neurodegeneration induced by MCA occlusion and reperfusion.