Microglia pre-activation and neurodegeneration precipitate neuroinflammation without exacerbating tissue injury in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

ABSTRACT: Human inflammatory or neurodegenerative diseases, such as progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), occur on a background of age-related microglia activation and iron accumulation as well as pre-existing neurodegeneration. Most experimental models for CNS diseases, however, are induced in rodents, which are naturally characterized by a homeostatic microglia phenotype, low cellular iron load and absence of neurodegeneration. Here, we show that naïve LEWzizi rats - Lewis rats with a zitter rat background - show a spontaneous phenotype partly mimicking the changes seen in human aging and particularly in the normal-appearing white and grey matter of patients with progressive MS. Using this model system, we further aimed to investigate (i) whether the acute monophasic MS model experimental autoimmun

SUBMITTER: Wimmer I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6357376 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature