DOI: 10.1369/jhc.4A6467.2005 Volume 53 (7): 809-819, 2005 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. A Mapping Study of Caspase-3 Activation Following Acute Spinal Cord Contusion in Rats
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, and Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky Correspondence to: Melanie L. McEwen, Ph.D., Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital, 800 Rose St., MN 225, Lexington, KY 40536-0298. E-mail: mlmcew2{at}uky.edu
Spinal cord injury (SCI) initiates a cascade of biochemical changes that results in necrotic and apoptotic cell death. There is evidence that caspase-3 activation and apoptotic cell death occur within hours after SCI. However, the time course and cellular localization of activated caspase-3 has not been examined. Such information is essential because caspase-3independent apoptotic pathways do exist. In this experiment, we describe the distribution of and cell types containing activated caspase-3 at 4 hr, 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, and 8 days following SCI in rats. Numerous caspase-3positive cells were observed at 4 hr and 1 day postinjury and colocalized most often with CC1, a marker for oligodendroglia. Both markers disappeared near the injury epicenter over the next several days. Activated caspase-3 was again present in the injured spinal cord on postoperative day 8, which coincided with a reemergence of CC1-positive cells. Many of these CC1-positive cells again colocalized activated caspase-3. NeuN-positive neurons of the dorsal horn were occasionally immunopositive for activated caspase-3 at early time points. OX42-positive microglia/macrophages rarely contained activated caspase-3. The results indicate a biphasic pattern of caspase-3 activation during the first 8 days postinjury, suggesting that at least two mechanisms activate caspase-3 following SCI. This time-course study provides a framework for investigating and understanding the different signaling events contributing to this biphasic pattern of caspase-3 activation. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:809819, 2005)
Key Words: apoptosis contusion myelin secondary injury spinal cord injury central nervous system trauma
TRAUMATIC INJURY to the spinal cord compresses and shears neuronal and glial cell types and their processes in the immediate vicinity of the impact, causing cells to spill their intracellular contents into the extracellular space. This pathophysiological occurrence initiates a cascade of events that causes additional delayed cell death and expansion of the lesion. Such secondary events include, but are not limited to, edema, anoxia, release of excitatory amino acids, generation of free radicals, lipid peroxidation, and disruption of the intracellular ionic balance (Dumont et al. 2001
Although our understanding of apoptotic cell death following SCI is far from complete, much is now known about individual intracellular proteins with apoptotic or anti-apoptotic functions. Evidence suggests that the morphological and nuclear changes that occur during apoptosis are initiated and executed through activation of the evolutionarily conserved caspase family of cysteine proteases (Thornberry 1997
The purpose of the present experiment was to perform a descriptive analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of activated caspase-3 at acute times following SCI (up to 8 days postinjury), and to determine if activated caspase-3 colocalized with cellular markers for neurons, oligodendroglia, or microglia/macrophages. Because there is clear evidence for the existence of caspase-3independent apoptotic cell death pathways (Li et al. 2001
Subjects Thirty-five LongEvans, young-adult female rats, weighing approximately 200 g, were purchased from Harlan Sprague Dawley (Indianapolis, IN). The rats were housed in the vivarium of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine on a 12:12 hr light:dark cycle with food and water available ad libitum until euthanized at 4 hr, 1 day, 2 days, 4 days, or 8 days postsurgery. Each of those five experimental groups was comprised of two rats that received sham surgery and five rats that received a spinal cord contusion. The animal unit of the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center is fully accredited by AAALAC. The care of animals used in this experiment complied with standards set forth in the US Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. All experimental procedures were approved by the University of Kentucky Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and conform to guidelines of the Society for Neuroscience and the Society for Neurotrauma.
Surgery
Histology
Tissue sections from each subject were stained for myelin and Nissl substance for brightfield microscopy as follows: briefly, sections were dehydrated at room temperature (RT) in a graded ethanol series (5 min each) and cleared in Hemo-De (Fisher Scientific) for 5 min. Sections were then rehydrated in a reverse-graded ethanol series, followed by distilled water (5 min each). To stain myelinated fibers, the tissue sections were placed for 10 min into a solution that contained 0.16% Eriochrome cyanine-R (Sigma; St Louis, MO), 0.4% sulfuric acid, 0.4% iron chloride, and 0.12% hydrochloric acid and then rinsed under running tap water for 10 min. Sections were then differentiated in 1% ammonium hydroxide for Adjacent slides were processed for fluorescence immunocytochemistry as follows: briefly, sections were rinsed for 1 hr at RT in several changes of PBS. Sections were then preincubated for 30 min at RT in a blocking solution comprised of 5% normal goat serum (NGS) and 0.05% Triton X-100 in PBS. The blocking solution was removed and sections were incubated in a humidified chamber overnight at 4C in PBS that contained 5% NGS and one of the following sets of primary antibodies: (a) rabbit anti-human/mouse activated caspase-3 IgG (polyclonal, 1:4000; R & D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) and mouse anti-APC/Ab7 (CC1) IgG (monoclonal, 1:250; Oncogene, Cambridge, MA), (b) anti-activated caspase-3 and mouse anti-neuronal nuclei (NeuN) IgG (monoclonal, 1:250; Chemicon International, Temecula, CA), or (c) anti-activated caspase-3 and mouse anti-rat CD11b/c (OX42) IgG (monoclonal, 1:4000; PharMingen, San Diego, CA). To test for nonspecific staining by the secondary antibodies, additional slides were processed in a similar fashion with the primary antibodies excluded. All slides were then rinsed for 1 hr at RT in several changes of PBS and incubated in the dark for 1 hr at RT in PBS that contained 5% NGS and the following fluorescent secondary antibodies: Cy-3-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG (polyclonal, 1:500; Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA) and AlexaFluor 488 goat anti-mouse IgG (monoclonal, 1:250; Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). The secondary antibody solution was removed and the slides were rinsed in several changes of PBS for 15 min at RT. Tissue sections were immediately coverslipped with ProLong Anti-Fade (Molecular Probes) and stored at 4C in the dark to retard fading of the fluorescent labels. Tissue sections were subsequently examined using a Zeiss AxioPlan microscope (Zeiss; Oberkochen, Germany). Myelin and Nissl staining were examined under brightfield, and images were captured with a Zeiss AxioCam color digital camera (x50). Colocalization of the fluorescent secondary antibodies was determined when paired images of each field were captured (x200 or x400) and superimposed using Photoshop (Adobe Systems; San Jose, CA). Immunoreactive cells were identified in gray (dorsal and ventral horn) and white matter. The analysis of immunoreactive cells in white matter was restricted primarily to the ventral funiculus, which contains descending supraspinal motor pathways affected by SCI in the rat.
Activated Caspase-3 in Cells of Laminectomy Control Spinal Cords Despite a normal gross morphology of the spinal cord and the absence of phagocytic microglia/macrophages, a few cells that contained activated caspase-3 were scattered throughout the gray and white matter of the spinal cord of all laminectomy control rats. CC1-positive cells were generally not immunoreactive for activated caspase-3 at the early time points postsurgery. However, some colocalization of the two antibodies was apparent 4 and 8 days after sham surgery (Figure 1A). A few NeuN-positive neurons of the dorsal horn were immunoreactive for activated caspase-3 at all time points (Figure 1B), whereas no NeuN-positive neurons of the ventral horn were observed to be caspase-3 positive (data not shown). Activated caspase-3 and OX42 were generally not colocalized following sham surgery, even though immunoreactive profiles for each marker were observed in close proximity to one another (Figure 1C).
Activated Caspase-3 and CC1 Immunoreactivity in Injured Spinal Cords The radial and longitudinal expansion of the necrotic lesion following spinal cord contusion and the gradual increase in microglia/macrophage infiltration and activation (Figure 2) was similar to previous reports (Schwab and Bartholdi 1996
Within 4 hr of spinal cord contusion, cells that contained activated caspase-3 appeared more abundant, relative to time-matched sham controls, and were localized to areas of intact white matter for the entire 8-mm segment analyzed (Figure 3A). Several of these caspase-3positive cells were also immunopositive for CC1 and presumed to be oligodendroglia. Cells that colocalized activated caspase-3 and CC1 continued to surround regions of tissue necrosis at 1 day postinjury relative to that observed in the spinal cords of time-matched controls (Figure 3B). However, the overall population of CC1-positive cells at 1 day postinjury appeared smaller than at the earlier time point (4 hr) for at least 2 mm rostral and caudal to the lesion epicenter. Both activated caspase-3 and CC1-positive cells continued to decline on postoperative day 2 (Figure 3C) and were sparse by postoperative day 4 (Figure 3D). Interestingly, CC1-positive cells were again abundant throughout the white matter near regions of tissue necrosis at 8 days post-SCI, and several cells colocalized activated caspase-3 (Figure 3E).
Activated Caspase-3 and NeuN Immunoreactivity in Injured Spinal Cords Caspase-3positive cells were found throughout all 8 mm of gray matter tissue examined but appeared most abundant proximal to the lesion epicenter. There was some colocalization of activated caspase-3 and NeuN in the dorsal horn at 4 hr and 1 day postinjury (Figures 4A and 4B). Although activated caspase-3 reappeared in white matter on postoperative day 8 (see Figure 3E), there was little colocalization of NeuN and activated caspase-3 in the gray matter at this time point (data not shown). Activated caspase-3 was not observed in any NeuN-positive neurons of the ventral horn, regardless of time postinjury (Figures 4C and 4D).
Activated Caspase-3 and OX42 Immunoreactivity in Injured Spinal Cords Cells immunoreactive for activated caspase-3 or OX42 were often located in close proximity to one another at the time points examined following spinal cord contusion (Figure 5). Although rare, a few instances of antibody colocalization were observed in cells proximal to the lesion epicenter, primarily at 4 hr postcontusion when few activated phagocytic OX42-positive microglia/macrophages with a rounded morphology were detected in the spinal cord (see Figure 1D). At this early time point, the OX42-positive cells containing activated caspase-3 had a ramified morphology, but the processes appeared shorter than in the spinal cord of control rats.
Previous research has demonstrated that apoptotic death of neurons and glia following spinal cord contusion occurs in experimental models (Crowe et al. 1997
Although caspase-3 activation may not necessarily indicate cells that will eventually die by apoptosis (Zeuner et al. 1999
Activated caspase-3 in the contused spinal cord was primarily colocalized with CC1-positive cells, a marker for oligodendroglia (Bhat et al. 1996
A few NeuN-positive neurons of the dorsal horn were also immunoreactive for activated caspase-3, primarily at 4 hr and 1 day postcontusion. Activated caspase-3 and NeuN were primarily colocalized to the small neurons of the dorsal horn. In contrast, NeuN-positive motoneurons of the ventral horn were not immunoreactive for activated caspase-3 at any time-point examined. Although previous reports have suggested that motoneurons of the adult spinal cord undergo apoptosis post-SCI (Yong et al. 1998
We found that only a few OX42-positive cells appeared to be immunoreactive for activated caspase-3. When present, activated caspase-3 was most prevalent at 4 hr postinjury in OX42-positive cells that had a ramified morphology and shortened processes, the morphological characteristics of partially activated microglia/macrophages (Popovich et al. 1997
Although there is evidence of astrocyte cell death following SCI (Grossman et al. 2001 Cells that contained activated caspase-3 were present in the spinal cords of rats that received sham surgery and may reflect cellular responses to nonspecific trauma from the laminectomy procedure (e.g., hypoxia, edema). It is important to stress that the temporal distribution of activated caspase-3 within the spinal cords of sham controls was vastly different from the distribution of activated caspase-3 within the injured spinal cords. Following sham surgery, activated caspase-3 was observed in cells of the gray and white matter at all postsurgical time-points examined. In contrast, cells that contained activated caspase-3 in the injured spinal cord dramatically decreased and was sparse on postoperative days 2 and 4 in all subjects that received a spinal cord contusion. These data suggest that the cellular mechanisms activated in response to a "mild stressor" (sham surgery) or to a rapid traumatic impact to the spinal cord may differentially regulate caspase-3 activation.
Overall, the results of this experiment indicate that during acute times following SCI, caspase-3 activation occurs primarily in oligodendroglia in areas of relatively intact white matter. Some small neurons of the dorsal horn were immunopositive for activated caspase-3 postinjury, whereas neurons of the ventral horn were not immunopositive for activated caspase-3 under the conditions of the present experiment. These findings suggest that caspase-3mediated apoptosis is differentially regulated in neurons, which may reveal neuronal differences in the time-course of caspase-3mediated cell death or in the biochemical mediators of apoptosis. Finally, activated caspase-3 was rarely localized to OX42-positive microglia/macrophages and was most abundant at 4 hr postinjury. Caspase activation can alter cell structure (Kothakota et al. 1997
In conclusion, the results of this study are the first to report the pattern and cellular localization of activated caspase-3 in the injured spinal cord. These findings are particularly relevant given the fact that not all apoptotic cell death is caspase-3 dependent (Li et al. 2001
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Heath, Public Health Service (PHS) Grants NS-40015, NS-46380, a grant from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust, and an endowment from Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital. M.L.M. was supported by PHS Training Grant AG-00242.
Received for publication July 2, 2004; accepted February 1, 2005
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