The Role of Fatty Acid Binding Protein 7 in Spinal Cord Astrocytes in a Mouse Model of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Publication date: Available online 30 April 2019Source: NeuroscienceAuthor(s): Kenyu Kamizato, Sho Sato, Subrata Kumar Shil, Banlanjo A. Umaru, Yoshiteru Kagawa, Yui Yamamoto, Masaki Ogata, Yuki Yasumoto, Yuko Okuyama, Naoto Ishii, Yuji Owada, Hirofumi MiyazakiAbstractFatty acid binding protein 7 (FABP7) is expressed in astrocytes of the developing and mature central nervous system, and modulates astrocyte function by controlling intracellular fatty acid homeostasis. Astrocytes in the spinal cord have an important role in the process of myelin degeneration and regeneration. In the present study, the authors examined the role of FABP7 in astrocytes in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), which is an established model of multiple sclerosis (MS). FABP7 was expressed in the white matter astrocytes and increased after EAE onset, particularly strong expression was observed in demyelinating regions. In FABP7-knockout (KO) mice, the onset of EAE symptoms occurred earlier than in wild type (WT) mice, and mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL-17 and TNF-α) were higher in FABP7-KO lumbar spinal cord than in WT lumbar spinal cord at early stage of EAE. Interestingly, however, the clinical score was significantly reduced in FABP7-KO mice compared with WT mice in the late phase of EAE. Moreover, the area exhibiting expression of fibronectin, which is an extracellular matrix protein mainly produced by astrocytes and inhibits remyelination of olig...
Source: Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research