Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 23, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23147578
Keywords
TBI; brain injury; inflammation; astrocyte; microglia; Xenopus; tadpole
Funding
- Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation
- Texas Research Incentive Program
- College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Houston
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major cause of disability worldwide, and effective therapies are currently lacking. This study investigates the response to focal impact injury in Xenopus tadpoles and demonstrates similarities to cellular alterations observed in other animal models. The Xenopus tadpole offers a new scalable vertebrate model for TBI research.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a global driver of disability, and we currently lack effective therapies to promote neural repair and recovery. TBI is characterized by an initial insult, followed by a secondary injury cascade, including inflammation, excitotoxicity, and glial cellular response. This cascade incorporates molecular mechanisms that represent potential targets of therapeutic intervention. In this study, we investigate the response to focal impact injury to the optic tectum of Xenopus laevis tadpoles. This injury disrupts the blood-brain barrier, causing edema, and produces deficits in visually-driven behaviors which are resolved within one week. Within 3 h, injured brains show a dramatic transcriptional activation of inflammatory cytokines, upregulation of genes associated with inflammation, and recruitment of microglia to the injury site and surrounding tissue. Shortly afterward, astrocytes undergo morphological alterations and accumulate near the injury site, and these changes persist for at least 48 h following injury. Genes associated with astrocyte reactivity and neuroprotective functions also show elevated levels of expression following injury. Since our results demonstrate that the response to focal impact injury in Xenopus resembles the cellular alterations observed in rodents and other mammalian models, the Xenopus tadpole offers a new, scalable vertebrate model for TBI.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available