Extensive and long‐lasting changes of glial cells following transection of the poscommissural fornix in the adult rat

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Abstract
Injury to the adult brain results in the formation of a glial scar that involves both activated astroglia and microglia/macrophages. Although reactive gliosis has been linked to failure of axonal regeneration in the adult mammalian CNS, the spatio‐temporal pattern of the postlesion responses in morphology and distribution of the major cellular constituents of the gliosis has attracted little attention. In an attempt to define these relationships, we have undertaken a systematic study of astrocytic and microglial/macrophagic responses after stereotactic transection of the postcommissural fornix in rat.To visualize astrocytes, microglia, and macrophages, antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin (VIM), complement receptor type 3 (OX42), and ED1 were used. The cellular responses occurring between 2 h and 1 year postlesion (PL) at various distances distal and proximal to the lesion site were studied.The timing and extension of the sequential glial reactions after postcommissural fornix transection are discussed in relation to the myelin degradation and spontaneous sprouting of injured axons that have previously been observed in this lesion model (Wunderlich et al: Glia 10:49–58, 1994).