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TISSUE-SPECIFIC STEM CELLS

Irradiation Does Not Compromise or Exacerbate the Innate Immune Response in the Brains of Mice That Were Transplanted with Bone Marrow Stem Cells

Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval Research Center, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Key Words. Chimeric mice • Neuroinflammation • Microglia • Macrophages • Irradiation • Green fluorescent protein

Correspondence: Serge Rivest, Ph.D., Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval Research Center, Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Laval University, 2705 Laurier Boulevard, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, G1V 4G2. Telephone: (418) 654-2296; Fax: (418) 654-2761; e-mail: Serge.Rivest{at}crchul.ulaval.ca

Received on June 27, 2007; accepted for publication on August 21, 2007.

First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS  August 30, 2007.


Microglia and invading macrophages play key roles in the brain immune response. The contributions of these two populations of cells in health and diseases have yet to be clearly established. The use of chimeric mice receiving bone marrow-derived stem cell grafts from green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing mice has provided an invaluable tool to distinguish between local and blood-derived monocytic populations. The validity of the method is questioned because of the possible immune alterations caused by the irradiation of the recipient mouse. In this experiment, we compared the brain expression of innate immune markers Toll-like receptor 2, interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in C57BL/6, GFP, and chimeric mice following an intracerebral injection of lipopolysaccharide. The endotoxin caused a marked transcriptional activation of all these innate immune genes in microglial cells across the ipsilateral side of injection. The expression patterns and signal intensity were similar in the brains of the three groups of mice. Consequently, the chimera technique is appropriate to study the role of infiltrating and resident immune cells in the brain without having immune compromised hosts.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

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