Transgenic Rat Model of Huntington’s Disease: A Histopathological Study and Correlations with Neurodegenerative Process in the Brain of HD Patients
Figure 12
(a) Microglia (green) in the striatum of young (6-month-old) wt rats were mostly of small size, that is, nonactivated, although some neurons are here also scavenged (physiological degeneration); (b) the number of microglia increases quite slowly with the progression of NDP in tgHD rats; however (c) significant increase is only in the oldest animals (from 18 months of age). The double-staining with MAP2 antibody enables to document different stages of the degeneration of striatal neurons (red) up to the removal of their remnants; moreover, the accumulation of debris (red) in the cytoplasm of microglia (green); (b, c) 1—inactive microglia, 2—scavenged neuron (early stage of phagocytic process), and 3—remnants of the ingested material (phagosomes) in the cytoplasm of microglia. Additionally, significant gradual reduction in the number of dendrites (i.e., rarefaction of the neuropil) with the progression of NDP is evident in aged tgHD rats. (b) tgHD—12-month-old rat; (c) tgHD—18-month-old rat. Anti- MAP2 (red) + anti- Iba1 (green) + DAPI (blue). Bar 20 μm.
