Peptides from regenerating central nervous system promote specific populations of macroglia

Response of microglial cells after a cryolesion in the peripheral proliferative retina of tench

We studied the glial response after inducing a lesion in the zone of the peripheral retina of tench, where there is proliferative neuroepithelium. In the retina and optic nerve, the microglial response was analysed with tomato lectin and the macroglial response with antibodies against GFAP and S-100. In lesioned retinas, there was a temporal-spatial distribution pattern of microglia. One day after lesion, primitive ramified cells appeared in the nerve fibre layer. These cells appeared progressively from the vitreal to the scleral layers until day 7 when cells appeared in all layers, with the exception of the outer plexiform layer. From this point, labelling decreased. In the optic nerve, 3 days after lesion, an increase in the number of microglial cells was observed, first in the nerve folds and from day 15 in specific areas of the optic nerve. In the central retina, in the optic nerve head and within the optic nerve itself, the appearance of microglial cells, after the lesion, near the blood vessels, could indicate a vascular origin of microglia, as has been proposed by many authors. However, we cannot discount the idea that some of the reactive microglial cells arise by proliferation of the microglia existing in the normal state. Using GFAP and S-100 antibodies, no important changes in the retina were observed, however in the optic nerve there was response to the lesion. Thus, the macroglial cells appeared to be involved in reorganisation of the optic nerve axons after lesion.

Enzyme-histochemical demonstration of microglial cells in the adult and postnatal rabbit retina

Enzyme-histochemical methods for thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase) and nucleoside diphosphatase (NDPase) were applied to wholemounted rabbit retinae to demonstrate the shape and distribution of microglial cells in early postnatal and adult animals. At birth, microglial cells were already present in the entire retina. They acquired their adult "resting shape" during the first 3 postnatal weeks. Early postnatally labeled microglial cells were scattered throughout the nerve fiber layer, the inner plexiform layer, and the outer plexiform layer (OPL); at adulthood, they were not detected in the OPL. Nissl-stained retinae revealed that the number of microglial cells continuously increased during postnatal development. The same Nissl-stained preparations were used to evaluate the topography of degenerating cells in the developing postnatal retina of the rabbit. Large numbers of degenerating pyknotic cells were observed throughout the entire retinal ganglion cell layer during the first postnatal week. Later their number decreased, and from the third postnatal week onward degenerating cells were rare. Also discussed is that the emergence of microglial cells during development may be related to cell death, whereas at adulthood the function(s) of microglial cells remains obscure. Evidence for the blood-derived origin of microglia was not obtained in this study. It is argued here that if this mode of development, which has been demonstrated for other species, is also applied to the rabbit retina, then microglia would have to migrate over considerable distances, since, postnatally, the rabbit retina is avascular for more than 1 week.

Secreted peptides as regulators of neuron-glia and glia-glia interactions in the developing nervous system

Secreted peptides of the nervous system help to regulate neuron-glia and glia-glia interactions during development. These regulatory factors, referred to as glia-promoting factors (GPFs), act on specific classes of glia and include oligodendroglia-stimulating peptides, interleukin-1 (IL-1), colony-stimulating factors (CSF), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). The maturity of secretory and target cells determines, in part, the ability of a factor to influence glial proliferation, activation, or differentiation. During neural development, GPFs help to control such fundamentally important events as cell movement, neurite outgrowth, and myelination.

Growth factors for human glial cells in culture

Using a new double-labeling immunofluorescence technique, we assessed various growth factors on their ability to promote proliferation of cultured human glial cells. Cells studied were fetal astrocytes, fetal Schwann cells, adult astrocytes, and adult oligodendrocytes. Effective agents for fetal astrocytes were glial growth factor from the bovine pituitary, platelet-derived growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and 4 beta-phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. For fetal Schwann cells, mitogens were glial growth factor from the bovine pituitary, platelet-derived growth factor, nerve growth factor, and 4 beta-phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate. Adult astrocytes and oligodendrocytes did not normally divide in culture, and none of the agents tested were effective in inducing their proliferation. The report that interleukin-2 was a mitogen for oligodendrocytes could not be replicated in the present study on any of the glial cell types.

Molecular and cellular aspects of nerve regeneration

Injury of an axon leads to at least four independent events, summarized in Figure 1: first, deprivation of the nerve cell body from target-derived or mediated substances, which leads to a derepressed or a permissive state; second, disruption of anterograde transport, with a resultant accumulation of anterogradely transported molecules; third, environmental response with possible consequent changes in constituents of the extracellular matrix and substances secreted from the surrounding cells; and fourth, appearance of growth inhibitors and modified protease activity. It seems that the first three of these events are obligatory, but not sufficient, i.e., they lead to a growth state only if the cell body is able to respond to the injury-induced signals from the environment (a and b). The regenerative state is characterized by alterations in protein synthesis and axonal transport and by sprouting activity. The subsequent elongation of the growing fibers depends on a continuous supply of appropriate growth factors. These factors are presumably anchored to the appropriate extracellular matrix that serves as a substratum for elongating fibers. It should be mentioned that the proliferating nonneuronal cells have a conducive effect on regeneration by forming a scaffold for the growing fibers. Accordingly, the lack of regeneration may stem from a deficiency in the ability of glial cells to provide the appropriate soluble components or from insufficient formation of extracellular matrix. In this respect, one may consider regeneration of an injured axon as a process which involves regeneration of both the nonneuronal cells and the supported axons. The regeneration of glial cells may fulfill the rules which are applied to regeneration of any other proliferating tissue. Furthermore, the processes of regeneration in the axon and the glial cells are mutually dependent. Perhaps the triggering factors provided by the nonneuronal cells affect the nonneuronal cells themselves by modulating their postlesion gliosis and thereby inducing their appropriate activation. In such a case, regeneration of nonneuronal cells may resemble an autocrine type of regulation that exists also during ontogeny. The growth regulation is shifted back to the paracrine type upon neuronal maturation or cessation of axonal growth. When the elongating fibers reach the vicinity of the target organ, they are under the influence of the target-derived factors, which guide the fibers and eventually cease their elongation.

Ameboid microglia as effectors of inflammation in the central nervous system

Techniques for selective isolation, labeling, stimulation, and destruction of ameboid microglia allow study of some fundamental questions in neuroimmunology. Examination of surface morphology, proliferative capacity, and cytochemistry suggests that microglia are a class of brain mononuclear phagocytes distinct from blood monocytes, spleen macrophages, or resident peritoneal macrophages. Moreover, cultured ameboid microglia isolated from newborn brain can be induced to grow thin cytoplasmic projections several hundred microns in length; these process-bearing cells resemble a differentiated form of microglia found in adult brain. Ameboid microglia may contribute to brain inflammation by engulfing debris, by releasing cytotoxins, by killing neighboring cells, and by secreting astroglial growth factors. Importantly, ameboid microglia are closely tied to a network of immunomodulators that include colony-stimulating factors and Interleukin-1. The presence of activated microglia during normal embryogenesis and at sites of penetrating brain injury suggests that these cells serve as important effectors linking the immune system with growth and repair of the CNS.

Interleukin 1 of the central nervous system is produced by ameboid microglia

By screening specific populations of rat brain cells, we found that ameboid microglia secrete an 18 kD peptide with IL-1 biological activity. The IL-1 activity released by microglia was found to be identical to rat macrophage IL-1 on fractionation by gel filtration and high pressure liquid anion-exchange chromatography, and it was neutralized by an antiserum specific for murine IL-1. When added to astroglia grown in culture, microglial IL-1 increased the cell number of five- to sevenfold, and increased astroglial incorporation of [3H]thymidine by three- to fivefold. We propose that the proliferation of astroglia in specific brain regions may be regulated by the signaled release of IL-1 from activated microglial cells.

Brain peptides and glial growth. II. Identification of cells that secrete glia-promoting factors

Glia-promoting factors (GPFs) are brain peptides which stimulate growth of specific macroglial populations in vitro. To identify the cellular sources of GPFs, we examined enriched brain cell cultures and cell lines derived from the nervous system for the production of growth factors. Ameboid microglia secreted astroglia-stimulating peptides, while growing neurons were the best source of the oligodendroglia-stimulating factors. These secretion products co-purified by gel filtration, anion exchange chromatography, and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography with GPFs isolated from goldfish and rat brain. Our findings suggest that glial growth in the central nervous system is regulated in part by a signaled release of peptides from specific secretory cells.

Brain peptides and glial growth. I. Glia-promoting factors as regulators of gliogenesis in the developing and injured central nervous system

Glia-promoting factors (GPFs) are peptides of the central nervous system which accelerate the growth of specific glial populations in vitro. Although these factors were first discovered in the goldfish visual system (Giulian, D., Y. Tomozawa, H. Hindman, and R. Allen, 1985, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 83:4287-4290), we now report similar peptides are found in mammalian brain. The cerebral cortex of rat contains oligodendroglia-stimulating peptides, GPF1 (15 kD) and GPF3 (6 kD), as well as astroglia-stimulating peptides, GPF2 (9 kD) and GPF4 (3 kD). The concentrations of specific GPFs increase in brain during periods of gliogenesis. For example, GPF1 and GPF3 are found in postnatal rat brain during a peak of oligondendroglial growth while GPF2 and GPF4 are first detected at a time of astroglial proliferation in the embryo. Stab wound injury to the cerebral cortices of rats stimulates astroglial proliferation and induces marked elevations in levels of GPF2 and GPF4. Our findings suggest that two distinct classes of GPFs, those acting upon oligodendroglia and those acting upon astroglia, help to regulate cell growth in the developing and injured central nervous system.

Peptides released by ameboid microglia regulate astroglial proliferation

Peptides that stimulate astroglial proliferation are produced in traumatized adult rat brain by 10 d after injury. These same peptides are released by ameboid microglia activated in vitro. Our findings suggest that astroglial scarring is regulated in part by the release of factors from ameboid microglia near the site of brain injury.