Visualizing Impairment of the Endothelial and Glial Barriers of the Neurovascular Unit during Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis In Vivo

The neurovascular unit (NVU) is composed of microvascular endothelial cells forming the blood-brain barrier (BBB), an endothelial basement membrane with embedded pericytes, and the glia limitans composed by the parenchymal basement membrane and astrocytic end-feed embracing the abluminal aspect of central nervous system (CNS) microvessels. In addition to maintaining CNS homeostasis the NVU controls immune cell trafficking into the CNS. During immunosurveillance of the CNS low numbers of activated lymphocytes can cross the endothelial barrier without causing BBB dysfunction or clinical disease. In contrast, during neuroinflammation such as in multiple sclerosis or its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) a large number of immune cells can cross the BBB and subsequently the glia limitans eventually reaching the CNS parenchyma leading to clinical disease. Immune cell migration into the CNS parenchyma is thus a two-step process that involves a sequential migration across the endothelial and glial barrier of the NVU employing distinct molecular mechanisms. If following their passage across the endothelial barrier, T cells encounter their cognate antigen on perivascular antigen-presenting cells their local reactivation will initiate subsequent mechanisms leading to the focal activation of gelatinases, which will enable the T cells to cross the glial barrier and enter the CNS parenchyma. Thus, assessing both, BBB permeability and MMP activity in spatial correlation to immune cell accumulation in the CNS during EAE allows to specify loss of integrity of the endothelial and glial barriers of the NVU. We here show how to induce EAE in C57BL/6 mice by active immunization and how to subsequently analyze BBB permeability in vivo using a combination of exogenous fluorescent tracers. We further show, how to visualize and localize gelatinase activity in EAE brains by in situ zymogaphy coupled to immunofluorescent stainings of BBB basement membranes and CD45+ invading immune cells.