Expression of Hla-Dr Is Up-Regulated in Microglia/Macrophages of the Multiple System Atrophy

Junjie Hu

Date of Award

4-2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Charles F. Ide

Second Advisor

Dr. Cindy Linn

Third Advisor

Dr. Robert R. Eversole

Keywords

HLA-DR, microglia, up-regulated, MSA, ICC

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Abstract Only

Abstract

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder (Quinn, 1989). Activation ofCD68+ microglia correlates with system degeneration in MSA, suggesting a possible inflammatory reaction in MSA pathogenesis (Ishizawa et al., 2004). HLA-DR, a major histocompatibility complex class II molecule, has been found in Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis (McGeer et al., 1988). However, the role of HLA-DR in MSA has not been described. To examine a possible role of HLA-DR in MSA, we conduct an immunocytochemistry (ICC) study on MSA and control cerebellar sections. HLA-DR distribution is quantitatively measured using image analysis on cerebellar sections immunostatned with anti-HLA-DR and anti-CD68 antibodies. ANOVA analysis is performed to delineate differences between control and MSA groups. Results indicate near significant differences between control and MSA tissue for both HLA-DR and CD68 in all foliar areas analyzed. Thus, HLA-DR-positive microglia and macrophages may be involved in inflammatory interactions in MSA. In other neurodegenerative disease such as Multiple Sclerosis, this combination of immune markers underlies a T-cell attack on myelinated axons. This mav be the case in MSA, since cerebellar white matter tracts are demyelinated.

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