Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-10-15
pubmed:abstractText
In health, microglia reside as quiescent guardian cells ubiquitously, but isolated without any cell-cell contacts amongst themselves, throughout the normal CNS. In disease, however, they act as swift "sensors" for pathological events, including subtle ones without any obvious structural damage. Once activated, microglia show a territorially highly restricted involvement in the disease process. This property, peculiar to microglia, confers to them diagnostic value for the accurate spatial localisation of any active disease process, acute or chronic. In the brain, the isoquinoline PK11195, a ligand for the peripheral benzodiazepine binding site (PBBS), binds with relative cellular selectivity to activated, but not resting, microglia. Labelled with carbon-11, (R)-PK11195 and positron emission tomography (PET) have been used for the study of inflammatory and neurodegenerative brain disease in vivo. These studies demonstrate meaningfully distributed patterns of regional [(11)C](R)-PK11195 signal increases that correlate with clinically observed loss of function. Increased [(11)C](R)-PK11195 binding closely mirrors the histologically well-described activation of microglia in the penumbra of focal lesions, as well as in the distant, anterograde, and retrograde projection areas of the lesioned neural pathway. There is also some indication that in long-standing alterations of a neural network with persistent abnormal input, additional signals of glial activation may also emerge in transsynaptic areas. These data suggest that the injured brain is less static than commonly thought and shows subtle glial responses even in macroanatomically stable appearing regions. This implies that glial activation is not solely a sign of tissue destruction, but possibly of disease-induced adaptation or plasticity as well. Whilst further technological and methodological advances are necessary to achieve routine clinical value and feasibility, a systematic attempt to image glial cells in vivo is likely to furnish valuable information on the cellular pathology of CNS diseases and their progression within the distributed neural architecture of the brain.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
0894-1491
pubmed:author
pubmed:copyrightInfo
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
40
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
206-17
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2002
pubmed:articleTitle
Visualising microglial activation in vivo.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Neuropathology, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College School of Medicine, and MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (PET Neurology), Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom. richard.banati@csc.mrc.ac.uk
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't