Microglia attenuate the kainic acid-induced death of hippocampal neurons in slice cultures.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Status epilepticus-induced hippocampal neuronal death, astrogliosis, and the activation of microglia are common pathological changes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) with resistance to antiepileptic drugs. Neuronal death in mTLE gradually progresses and is involved in the aggravation of epilepsy and the impairment of hippocampus-dependent memory. Thus, clarifying the cellular mechanisms by which neurons are protected in mTLE will significantly contribute to the treatment of epilepsy. Here, mainly using hippocampal slice cultures with or without the pharmacological depletion of microglia, we directly examined whether microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain that can act either neurotoxically or in a neuroprotective manner, accelerate or attenuate kainic ac

SUBMITTER: Araki T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292224 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature