Immunohistochemical Study of Netrin-1 in the Spinal Cord with Rat Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Abstract

To investigate whether netrin-1 is involved in autoimmune injury of the central nervous system, the expression of netrin-1 protein was analyzed in the spinal cord of Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Western blot analysis revealed significantly increased content of netrin-1 in the spinal cords of rats at the peak stage of EAE, as compared with the levels in normal control animals (p < 0.01). Immunohistochemistry detected the netrin-1 protein in neurons, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and vascular endothelial cells in the spinal cords of normal controls. In EAE-affected spinal cords, netrin-1 immunoreactivity was detected in infiltrating inflammatory cells at the peak stage as well as in neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. These results suggest that netrin-1 is transiently increased in rat EAE lesions, where it contributes to the modulation of rat acute EAE.

• EAE
• Oligodendrocytes
• Macrophages
• Netrin-1

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Grant No. 2010–0007585).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.