Browsing by Author "Rey, Sergio"

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    Lipopolysaccharide-induced carotid body inflammation in cats: functional manifestations, histopathology and involvement of tumour necrosis factor-alpha
    (WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2008) Fernandez, Ricardo; Gonzalez, Sergio; Rey, Sergio; Cortes, Paula P.; Maisey, Kevin R.; Reyes, Edison Pablo; Larrain, Carolina; Zapata, Patricio
    In the absence of information on functional manifestations of carotid body (CB) inflammation, we studied an experimental model in which lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration to pentobarbitone-anaesthetized cats was performed by topical application upon the CB surface or by intravenous infusion (endotoxaemia). The latter caused: (i) disorganization of CB glomoids, increased connective tissue, and rapid recruitment of polymorphonuclear cells into the vascular bed and parenchyma within 4 h; (ii) increased respiratory frequency and diminished ventilatory chemoreflex responses to brief hypoxia (breathing 100% N-2 for 10 s) and diminished ventilatory chemosensory drive (assessed by 100% O-2 tests) during normoxia and hypoxia; (iii) tachycardia, increased haematocrit and systemic hypotension in response to LPS I.V.; and (iv) increased basal frequency of carotid chemosensory discharges during normoxia, but no change in maximal chemoreceptor responses to brief hypoxic exposures. Lipopolysaccharide-induced tachypnoea was prevented by prior bilateral carotid neurotomy. Apoptosis was not observed in CBs from cats subjected to endotoxaemia. Searching for pro-inflammatory mediators, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) was localized by immunohistochemistry in glomus and endothelial cells; reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction revealed that the CB expresses the mRNAs for both type-1 (TNF-R1) and type-2 TNF-alpha receptors (TNF-R2); Western blot confirmed a band of the size expected for TNF-R1; and histochemistry showed the presence of TNF-R1 in glomus cells and of TNF-R2 in endothelial cells. Experiments in vitro showed that the frequency of carotid nerve discharges recorded from CBs perfused and superfused under normoxic conditions was not significantly modified by TNF-alpha, but that the enhanced frequency of chemosensory discharges recorded along responses to hypoxic stimulation was transiently diminished in a dose-dependent manner by TNF-alpha injections. The results suggest that the CB may operate as a sensor for immune signals, that the CB exhibits histological features of acute inflammation induced by LPS, that TNF-alpha may participate in LPS-induced changes in chemosensory activity and that some pathophysiological reactions to high levels of LPS in the bloodstream may originate from changes in CB function.
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    Proinflammatory stimuli are needed for induction of microglial cell-mediated A beta PP244-C and A beta-neurotoxicity in hippocampal cultures
    (IOS PRESS, 2008) Ramirez, Gigliola; Rey, Sergio; von Bernhardi, Rommy
    Amyloid-beta plaques and neurodegeneration are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, where glial cells are responsible for sustained neuroinflammation. Here we show that hippocampal-microglia co-cultures exposed to proinflammatory mediators, amyloid-beta- and amyloid-beta protein precursor construct-conjugated beads increased their production of nitrites. In contrast, inflammation was unable to significantly induce cell death by itself, whereas inflammation plus amyloid-beta or amyloid-beta protein precursor induced a significant increment of cell death and a 6-fold increase of production of Interleukin 1 beta. Those effects were not observed in the absence of microglia or when hippocampal cells were co-cultured with microglia for one day. In contrast, a 2-fold increase of transforming growth factor beta 1 was observed in hippocampal cultures exposed to inflammatory stimuli for 4 days, whereas induction of transforming growth factor beta 1 by inflammation plus amyloid-beta and amyloid-beta protein precursor was nearly abolished by microglia. Our results indicate that neurotoxicity induced by amyloid-beta or amyloid-beta protein precursor was a slow process depending on activated microglia and additional stimuli. The observed cytotoxicity could be consequence of a vicious cycle in which elevated concentrations of Interleukin 1 beta and radical species along with decreased secretion of neuroprotective cytokines such as transforming growth factor beta 1 support persistent activation of glial cells and cell damage.