Abstract
Background:
Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutations are the most common genetic risk factor for Parkinson’s disease (PD). While the corresponding pathogenic mechanisms remain largely unknown, LRRK2 has been implicated in the immune system.
Objective:
To assess whether LRRK2 mutations alter the sensitivity to a single peripheral inflammatory trigger, with ultimate impact on dopaminergic integrity, using a longitudinal imaging-based study design.
Methods:
Rats carrying LRRK2 p.G2019S and non-transgenic (NT) littermates were treated peripherally with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). They were monitored over 10 months with PET markers for neuroinflammation and dopaminergic integrity, and with behavioral testing. Tyrosine hydroxylase and CD68 expression were assessed postmortem, 12 months after LPS treatment, in the striatum and substantia nigra.
Results:
Longitudinal [11C]PBR28 PET imaging revealed that LPS treatment caused inflammation in the brain, increasing over time, as compared to saline (corrected p = 0.008). LPS treated LRRK2 animals exhibited significantly increased neuroinflammation in the cortex and ventral-regions compared to saline treated animals (LRRK2 and NT) at 10 months post treatment, with the increase in [11C]PBR28 binding from baseline averaging 0.128±0.045 g/mL. For LPS treated NT animals, the increase was not significant. CD68 immunohistochemistry data supported the imaging results, but without reaching statistical significance. No dopaminergic degeneration was observed.
Conclusion:
A single peripheral inflammatory trigger elicited long lasting, progressive neuroinflammation. A trend for an exacerbated inflammatory response in LRRK2 animals compared to NT controls was observed. Translationally, this implies that repeated exposure to inflammatory triggers may be needed for LRRK2 mutation carriers to develop active PD.
INTRODUCTION
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Its main neurochemical feature is the progressive loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Despite extensive research, the factors triggering this neuronal loss are still largely unknown. Prevalence of PD increases significantly with age. A meta-analysis published in 2014 showed that only 107 in 100,000 people are affected at the age of 50–59, increasing to more than 1000 in 100,000 at 70–79 years [1]. Likewise, it has been shown that propensity to neuroinflammation increases with age in healthy humans and in rodents [2, 3], and that disease severity can be exacerbated by inflammation in some neurodegenerative disease animal models [4, 5].
There is ample evidence supporting the presence of neuroinflammation in PD. Most of it comes from postmortem studies, which generally examine the brain after disease has been present for a long time. Evidence from imaging data, where the brain can be investigated at several stages of the disease, is discordant; some studies show increased neuroinflammation compared to healthy controls [6, 7] while others show no difference [8, 9]. There is thus no conclusive evidence as to the possible pathogenic role and timing of neuroinflammation in PD, nor about the exact relationship between neuroinflammation and external (peripheral) inflammatory triggers.
In order to address this question two lines of research are being pursued: exploration of the effect of inflammatory triggers on the probability of occurrence and extent of neuroinflammation, and the link between neuroinflammation and dopaminergic deficit.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a commonly used inflammatory trigger in various animal models and human studies. For example, it has been shown that a single dose of 1 ng/kg of LPS administered i.v. increases neuroinflammation in healthy controls as measured with the PET tracer [11C]PBR28 3 hours after LPS administration [10]. Animal studies have shown that intracranial infusions with low doses of LPS lead to neuroinflammation, followed by rapid degeneration of DA neurons [11–13]. Nonetheless, in humans, neuroinflammation is much more likely to be induced by peripheral infections rather than via an i.v. or intracranial route. Thus, animal models using systemic inflammatory triggers, e.g. intraperitoneal (i.p.) or subcutaneous (s.c.) injections, have gained more interest in recent years (see review by Hoogland et al. 2015) [14]. Further, given that PD often manifests later in life, it is reasonable to expect that dopaminergic deficit may not be an immediate response to an acute insult, but instead may occur in response to a prolonged inflammatory exposure or possibly as a response to cumulatively triggered effects.
One of the effects of neuroinflammation is activation of microglia, which are the resident innate immune cells in the brain; they are involved in brain homeostasis and respond rapidly to neuronal injury via cytokine expression and phagocytosis. Detection of microglia activation could thus be taken as an indication of elevated neuroinflammation. It has been shown that microglia are more susceptive to change into an activated state, referred to as microglia priming, after infections in the presence of prion disease or due to ageing [4, 15]. In addition, the probability of microglia priming can also be influenced by genetic mutations; several genes involved in PD have been linked to activation of microglia, e.g. LRRK2, GBA1 or SNCA [16]. For example, Gao et al. using a transgenic mouse model showed that A53T α-synuclein (α-syn) mutation leads to an increased neuroinflammatory response following a peripheral inflammatory trigger. Indeed, they showed increased neuroinflammation at 3 months and progressive DA neuron loss at 7 and 10 months after peripheral LPS treatment of 7 months old mice [17].
The most common mutations in hereditary as well as sporadic PD are located in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), a multi-domain protein. Mutations occur in several domains of the protein with G2019S in the kinase domain being the most prevalent: 4% in hereditary and 1% in sporadic PD cases [18]. Although the physiological functions of LRRK2 are still unknown, it has been implicated in several signaling pathways like wingless-related integration site (WNT)-signaling, and cellular processes such as cytoskeletal dynamics, autophagy and functionality of mitochondria [19, 20]. Rodent models overexpressing human LRRK2 G2019S rarely show degeneration of the DA system or behavioral deficits. An age-dependent loss of DA neurons has been described in some LRRK2 G2019S transgenic mice [21, 22], but in similar rat models there have been no reports of a loss of DA neurons, with behavioral deficits also rare [23, 24]. This could suggest that LRRK2 is not directly involved in degenerative processes but rather influences other pathways, which consequently lead to neurodegeneration. It was shown that LRRK2 is not only expressed in neurons but also in cells of the innate as well as adaptive immune system [25–27]. This led to the suggestion that LRRK2 is involved in neuroinflammation as it is thought that LRRK2 promotes microglia priming via negative regulation of the transcription factors NFAT and NF-κB leading to exacerbated immune responses; increased LRRK2 kinase activity was shown to increase motility of microglia in vitro [28].
We thus hypothesized that microglia in a LRRK2 p.G2019S rat model [23] are primed by overexpression of human LRRK2 G2019S transgene and that a peripheral inflammatory trigger such as LPS would lead to exacerbated and long lasting neuroinflammation compared to non-transgenic (NT) littermates. The exacerbated neuroinflammation would lead to DA neuronal loss. We chose to administer LPS via a systemic injection as this route imitates infections in humans better than intracranial injections. We used [11C]PBR28, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) tracer which binds to 18kDa translocator protein (TSPO) overexpressed in activated microglia, to evaluate microglia activation with autoradiography 24 hours after i.p. treatment with 3 mg/kg LPS or saline in NT and LRRK2 p.G2019S rats. Following the validation of our model, a longitudinal PET study with [11C]PBR28 was performed to assess microglia activation in the brain up to 10 months after LPS treatment. Limited immunohistochemistry for a marker of microglia activation (cluster of differentiation 68, CD68) was performed 12 months post-LPS to provide an exploratory comparison to our in vivo PET findings. CD68 was chosen as the marker for neuroinflammation as it is considered a well characterized and robust marker for activated microglia even though it is not suitable to distinguish microglia morphology [29, 30]. In the same cohort of animals in vivo PET imaging using markers of the DA system was performed. The vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2, [11C]DTBZ) was chosen to investigate the integrity of the DA system after the inflammatory trigger, and DA storage and turnover was evaluated via [18F]FDOPA PET imaging as increased DA turnover was observed in human LRRK2 mutation carriers [31]. Furthermore, postmortem analysis using immunohistochemistry against tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was completed to verify [11C]DTBZ results.
METHODS
Subjects and treatment
Subjects
In this study, male non-transgenic (NT) Sprague Dawley rats and hemizygous BAC LRRK2 p.G2019S littermates were used. Animals from this colony were previously shown to robustly express the human LRRK2 p.G2019S transgene [3]. The rats were housed in controlled standard conditions of humidity, a temperature of 21°C and a 12-hour light cycle (light from 0700 to 1900 hours). The animals had access to water ad libitum while a mild food restriction was applied to reduce excessive weight gain of the animals starting at 3 months of age (50 g of chow per day; 60 g/day for rats weighing over 825 g).
Treatment
At 4 months of age transgenic and NT animals were injected i.p. with either 3 mg/kg lipopolysaccharide (LPS, Sigma L4130; extracted from E. coli serotype O111:B4 using trichloroacetic acid, no less than 500,000 endotoxin units/mg) dissolved in isotonic saline solution (Hospira) or saline solution only and their reaction monitored for 4 days for clinical signs of distress like decreased activity, food or fluid intake or decreased body weight. The amount of LPS used was determined with a pilot study testing LPS concentrations ranging from 0 to 3 mg/kg with 3 mg/kg showing the most reliable and consistent neuroinflammation 24 hours after i.p. injection (data not shown). The number of rats used per group for each type of test is presented in Table 1.
General overview of number animals per group (n) for each experiment and time point evaluated and number of SN and striatal tissue sections evaluated for stereological cell quantification of CD68 (nCD68-STR, nCD68-SN) and TH (nTH-STR, nTH-SN). PET scans investigating the dopaminergic system were performed less frequently as no immediate effect of LPS on the dopaminergic system was expected
Behavioral testing
Behavioral tests were performed 6 and 10 months after treatment with LPS or saline unless otherwise specified. Each animal was recorded and the videos evaluated for each outcome measure by an experimenter blinded to genotype and treatment.
Open field test
To assess general locomotor and exploratory activity and anxiety animals were placed in the center of a Plexiglas square (50 cm×50 cm) and recorded for 5 minutes. The time the animals spent in the center of the square (25 cm×25 cm), time spent in motion and the number of rearings (weight only supported by hind legs) during the test period were evaluated.
Beam walking test
The beam walking test was performed to evaluate balance and motor coordination. A tapered beam (165 cm long, width: tapered from 6.5 cm to 1.5 cm, ledge: 2 cm below upper beam surface 2.5 cm on each side) was used and 5 tests were recorded [32]. The number of left and right hind paw slips was assessed and evaluated as a total score of paw slips on the entire beam.
Olfactory test
The olfactory test was performed to evaluate the animals’ interest in smelling and their ability to differentiate smells. The procedure was performed with some modifications as described previously [33]. A small container with vanilla smell and one with distilled water were placed in opposite corners of a clean cage (45×24 cm). The rat was placed in the cage and recorded for 5 minutes. The number of sniffs was evaluated for each scent (vanilla/distilled water) with a sniff being defined by the animal actively approaching the container and moving the head to smell the scent.
Rotarod test
Coordination and balance were assessed with the rotarod test. The apparatus was an automated rotarod (four station treadmill, ENV-575, Med-Associates Inc.) controlled by manufacturer’s software. At the start of the experiment the speed of the apparatus was set to 4 revolutions per minute (RPM) and accelerated to 40 RPM over a 5 minute period, remaining at 40 RPM for an additional minute. 10 trials were performed on the same day by each rat. A trial was ended when the animal fell from the apparatus or at the end of the 5 minutes. The variable of interest was the time spent on the device averaged over all trials. This test was only performed at 6 months post LPS treatment. At 10 months after treatment the animals were too large and heavy (most were over 800 g) to comfortably fit on the device [23].
Cylinder test
To assess spontaneous forelimb use, at 6 months post treatment, animals were placed in a Plexiglas cylinder (21 cm diameter, 30 cm height) and recorded for 5 minutes. The number of rearings was evaluated and defined as the animal supporting its weight completely with its hind paws.
[11C]PBR28 autoradiography
A subset of animals was sacrificed by decapitation 24 hours after injection of LPS or saline. The brain was extracted rapidly and flash-frozen in isopentane and dry ice before storage at –80°C. Autoradiography with [11C]PBR28 was performed as described earlier [3] to evaluate the acute response to LPS.
Briefly, sagittal sections were cut at 16 μm with a microtome cryostat (HM 500 OM; Microm International, Walldorf, Germany) and electrostatically adhered to glass microscope slides (Fisherbrand Superfrost Plus; Fisher Scientific). Slides were incubated in [11C]PBR28 (2 nmol/L) in 50 mmol/L Tris-HCl pH 7.8 for 30 minutes, followed by 5 one minute washes in ice-cold rinsing buffer (10 mmol/L Tris-HCl pH 7.4, 150 mmol/L NaCl). To measure non-specific binding adjacent sections were incubated simultaneously with the same buffer and nonradioactive PK11195 (1 μmol/L, Abcam Inc.).
Slides were dried, placed on a phosphor screen (multisensitive imaging plate; Perkin-Elmer, Waltham, MA, USA) and eight standards of different 11C activity concentrations were added for accurate quantification with a standard curve. A high-resolution phosphor imager (Cyclone storage phosphor system; Packard Bioscience Co., Meriden, CT, USA) was used to read the screen after exposure.
The manufacture’s software (OptiQuant; Parkard Instrument Co.) was used to position regions of interest (ROI) on the autoradiography images. Striatum, frontal cortex, cerebellum and midbrain were analyzed as individual regions and combined as whole brain region. The standard curve allowed the conversion of OptiQuant digital light units (DLU, measured signal) into activity (Bq) at the reference time. In each region the concentration of bound ligand (TSPO density, pmol/cc) was estimated by quantification of DLU per unit area. For this the contribution of nonspecific binding (typically <10% of total) was first subtracted before the DLU was divided by the slice thickness. DLU per unit volume was converted to activity concentration using the calibration factor and divided by the specific activity at the reference time.
PET imaging
Scanning methods
A total of 193 scans with one radiotracer for neuroinflammation and two DA radiotracers were performed. PET imaging was performed using a MicroPET Focus 120 (Concorde Microsystems Inc./Siemens, Knoxville, TN, USA) before LPS/saline treatment and 1.5, 3, 6 and 10 months after treatment (see Table 1) [34].
All radiotracers were injected as a bolus intravenously (i.v.). Neuroinflammation was assessed using the translocator protein (TSPO) ligand [11C]PBR28 at all time points [3]. Pre-synaptic integrity of the DA system was evaluated using the vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) ligand (+)-dihydrotetrabenazine ([11C]DTBZ) at baseline, 6 and 10 months after LPS/saline treatment [35, 36]. Storage and synthesis of dopamine and dopamine turnover was assessed 10 months after treatment with the levodopa analogue fluoro-3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine ([18F]FDOPA) [37, 38]. PET imaging procedures were performed as described previously [3, 38]. Briefly, to prevent rapid metabolism of parent radiotracer in blood, rats were fasted overnight prior to [18F]FDOPA scans and given a catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor (entacapone, 40 mg/kg) in two 20 mg/kg i.p. doses at 60 and 30 minutes prior to the scan. 30 minutes prior to the scan an inhibitor of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (benserazide, 10 mg/kg) was given i.p. Both inhibitors were given in a volume of 1 mL/kg. The functionality of the peripheral inhibitors was confirmed in venous blood samples. The specific activity for [11C]PBR28 was 116±75 GBq/μmol (mean, standard deviation), 160±79 GBq/μmol for [11C]DTBZ and 0.014±0.016 GBq/μmol for [18F]FDOPA. For all scans the injected activity was 45±1 MBq/kg body weight.
All scans were performed under 2.5% isoflurane anesthesia. During the scanning procedure the heart rate and blood oxygen saturation were measured using a pulse oximeter. The animal’s temperature was kept at 35 to 36°C using a heat lamp and measured with a digital thermometer.
A 10-minute transmission scan with 57Co was performed before intravenous injection of the radiotracer in a 30-second bolus. Emission data were collected in listmode for 90 min for [11C]PBR28, 60 min for [11C]DTBZ and 180 min for [18F]FDOPA.
Data processing and reconstruction was performed with the manufacturer’s software. This included standard corrections for attenuation, randoms, scatter, normalization and deadtime. Fourier rebinning followed by 2D filtered backprojection was used for reconstruction of dynamic images consisting of 20 time frames (6×30, 2×60, 5×300, 3×400, 4×600 s) for [11C]PBR28, 17 time frames (6×30, 2×60, 5×300, 2×450, 2×480) for [11C]DTBZ and 26 time frames (6×30, 2×60, 5×300, 3×400, 6×700, 4×900) for [18F]FDOPA.
Image processing and kinetic analysis
Image processing and kinetic analysis for [11C]PBR28, [11C]DTBZ and [18F]FDOPA were performed as described previously [3, 23]. To enable consistent placement of regions of interest (ROIs), images were co-registered to pre-made tracer-specific templates aligned to the atlas of Rubins et al. [39]. Atlas-derived regions containing the cerebellum (0.047 cm3), cortex (0.119 cm3), thalamus (0.011 cm3), striatum (0.013 cm3), hippocampus (0.007 cm3) and ventral-region including the midbrain, brainstem, amygdala and hypothalamus (0.361 cm3) were co-registered to each [11C]PBR28 image using the same transformation. An additional region was formed by combining the six regions of the brain atlas and denoted as ‘whole-brain’. Time-activity curves were obtained from the dynamic PET images using those 7 regions and standard uptake values (SUV, g/mL) were calculated between 45 and 90 min post injection. For this the average activity concentration in a region (kBq/mL) was divided by the injected activity per unit body weight (MBq/kg). This measure has been previously found to be well correlated with plasma derived VT and BPND, while being considerably more precise [3]. Previously, we also observed increased [11C]PBR28 binding as a function of age, independent of genotype. Therefore, for each time point, age-centered SUV were calculated by subtracting the mean SUV of all saline treated animals from each individual rat’s SUV values to account for the effect of age on neuroinflammation [3]. For the analysis of [11C]DTBZ and [18F]FDOPA, ROI were drawn manually on the left and right striatum (0.022 cm3) and cerebellum (0.043 cm3) and time-activity curves were extracted. Striatal ROIs were combined for further analysis as no asymmetry was found. For [11C]DTBZ the Logan graphical analysis method was used to calculate BPND [40]. The start of the fitting time was 30 min and the term containing k’2 was omitted [41]. Comparison of the baseline BPND with one-way ANOVA revealed an incidental trend towards a difference in BPND values between the four groups (F(3, 23) = 2.924, p = 0.059). Post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between NT-LPS group and all other groups (NT-Sal: p = 0.016; LRRK2-Sal: p = 0.032; LRRK2-LPS: p = 0.040). Therefore, the fractional change of BPND used in the analysis, was calculated by dividing the BPND at 6 and 10 months by the baseline value for each rat. The dopamine uptake rate (Kref) and effective dopamine turnover (EDVR) were analyzed for [18F]FDOPA as described previously [38, 42]. All analysis was performed using in-house software written in Matlab (The Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA, USA).
Postmortem analysis
Immunohistochemistry
Twelve months after LPS or saline treatment, LRRK2 p.G2019S rats and NT littermates were deeply anesthetized with 240 mg/kg sodium pentobarbital i.p. and transcardially perfused with 150 mL isotonic saline and 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA, 4°C). The brains were removed, postfixed in 4% PFA overnight and incubated in a 10% to 30% sucrose gradient. 30 μm thick coronal sections were harvested using a microtome cryostat (HM 500 OM; Microm International, Walldorf, Germany). Immunohistochemistry for antigen CD68 was performed as follows. Tissue sections were blocked in 5% normal goat serum, 2% bovine serum albumin (BSA), 0.4% Triton-X in Tris buffered saline (TBS), incubated with the primary antibody (α-CD68, 1:2000; BioRad MCA341R) overnight at room temperature, and then with the biotinylated secondary antibody (1:500, Vector Laboratories BA-9200) for one hour. Sections with biotinylated marker were incubated for 75 minutes with avidin-biotin complex with alkaline phosphatase (ABC-AP) (Vectastatin, Vector Laboratories AK-5005) and stained with VectorRed (Vector Laboratories SK-5100) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The sections were mounted on electrostatic slides (Fisherbrand Superfrost Plus; Fisher Scientific) and cover-slipped with Permount (Fisher Scientific SP15-500).
For tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry, tissue sections were blocked in 2% normal goat serum, 0.1% Triton X-100 in PBS, incubated with the primary antibody (1:1000, Immunostar 22941) overnight at 4°C and for one hour with the biotinylated secondary antibody (1:200, Vector Laboratories BA-9200) at room temperature. Sections were incubated for 75 minutes with ABC with horse radish peroxidase (ABC-HRP) (Vectastatin Elite, Vector Laboratories PK-6100) and 3,3’-Diaminobenzidine Tetrahydrochloride (DAB) (Sigmafast, Sigma D4293) staining was performed for 2.5 minutes according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sections were mounted on slides (Fisherbrand Superfrost Plus; Fisher Scientific) and cover-slipped with Permount (Fisher Scientific SP15-500).
Optical density quantification
The optical density (O.D.) of TH immunoreactive (ir) fibers was determined in the striatum; photomicrographs of striatal sections were captured using an Evos FL Auto Cell Imaging System (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and analyzed with NIH ImageJ software. A step tablet was used to calibrate ImageJ, and grey scale values were converted to O.D. units using the Rodbard function. The mean O.D. of a ROI placed on the striatum was recorded.
Stereological cell quantification
The optical disector method [43] was used to evaluate the numerical density of the TH positive neurons in the SN; cells were counted using an Olympus BH2 microscope with Olympus SPlan Apo 100x objective (oil, numerical aperture 1.4) (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). The focus depth was measured with a 3-MR Microcode II (Boeckeler Instruments Inc., Tuscon, AZ, USA) for each counted area individually and averaged over each section (D, average focus depth). The counting frame had an area of 100 μm×100 μm (0.01 mm2) giving the disector (the box in which cells are counted) a volume of 0.01×D mm3. TH positive neurons were counted when they were completely within the counting frame or touching its top or left side. If they were touching the bottom or right side of the counting frame or the top level of focus of the disector the TH positive neurons were excluded.
The number of CD68 positive cells per area (Na) was evaluated, as the focus depth for those sections could not be assessed. Cells were counted using an Olympus BH2 microscope with an Olympus SPlan 20x PL objective (numerical aperture 0.46) (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). The counting frame had an area of 490 μm×490 μm (0.24 mm2). CD68 positive cells were counted when they were completely within the counting frame or touching the top or left side. Cells touching the bottom or right side of the counting frame were excluded as well as CD68 positive cells in blood vessels or in close proximity to the corpus callosum or ventricles.
Statistical analysis
Autoradiography
TSPO density levels determined in [11C]PBR28 autoradiography were compared using a 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with LPS treatment and genotype as main effects. For each LPS treated rat and each region, the fractional increase in binding compared to saline treated rats was found. This was calculated as the difference in TSPO density (LPS rat minus mean of saline rats) divided by the mean TSPO density from saline rats. The average of such increase for all LPS treated rats is reported, and expressed as a percentage.
PET data
Age-centered SUV of longitudinal [11C]PBR28 PET imaging were analyzed using a linear mixed effects model with a random intercept and with group and time since LPS (time) as fixed effects. Maximum likelihood (ML) was used as the estimation method. A second linear mixed effects model was fitted using ML with a random intercept and LPS treatment as a fixed effect. For both models post-hoc tests were performed and corrected for multiple comparison using the Sidak method [44]. For [11C]DTBZ imaging the fractional change of BPND to baseline was analyzed using a repeated measures 2-way ANOVA with LPS treatment and genotype as main effects. Similarly, a 2-way ANOVA for comparison of Kref and EDVR of [18F]FDOPA PET imaging was performed.
Behavioral tests
The data from behavioral assessments were transformed using the square root to approximate normal distribution. Repeated measures 2-way ANOVAs with genotype and LPS treatment as main effects were used to analyze the measurements obtained at 6 and 10 months after LPS treatment. As the cylinder and rotarod test were only performed at 6 months post-LPS respectively, they were analyzed with a 2-way ANOVA.
Postmortem analysis
A 2-way ANOVA with genotype and LPS treatment as main effects was applied to Nv of TH positive cells in the SN, optical density (O.D) of TH immunoreactive fibers in the striatum and number of CD68 positive cells (Na) in SN and striatum. Na values were transformed using the natural logarithm before applying the statistical analysis.
Spearman’s correlation of CD68 positive cells (Na) with [11C]PBR28 SUV was calculated using non-transformed data. The PET outcome measure SUV (not corrected for age) for the ventral-region, encompassing the SN, was correlated with Na of SN, and a correlation between striatal SUV and Na was performed.
RESULTS
Acute effects of LPS treatment
In our pilot, dose-validation study, high-resolution autoradiography showed significantly and roughly uniformly increased TSPO density 24 hours after treatment in animals injected with LPS compared to saline injected animals in all examined regions independent of genotype (Table 2). The increase was 52% in the whole-brain region, 57% in the striatum and 47% in the cerebellum. The highest increase was found in the midbrain (61%) with a similar value (57%) for the frontal cortex. The 2-way ANOVA showed no effect of genotype or interaction of LPS and genotype for any of the regions evaluated. These data confirmed an acute effect of LPS. Example autoradiography images for LRRK2 p.G2019S animals are shown in Fig. 1.
Increased TSPO density 24 hours after injection of 3 mg/kg LPS i.p. in the whole brain region compared to saline injected animals. Autoradiography using [11C]PBR28 was performed 24 hours after injection of 3 mg/kg LPS or saline in LRRK2 p.G2019S rats and NT littermates. (A) 2-way ANOVA found a significant increase in TSPO density due to effect of LPS treatment (p = 0.007) but no effect of genotype (p = 0.8) or LPS×genotype interaction (p = 0.5). (B) Representative sagittal autoradiography slices for saline and LPS injected LRRK2 p.G2019S animals are shown. (n = 4, shown is the mean).
TSPO density 24 hours after treatment with LPS (3mg/kg i.p.) or saline and statistical analysis. Mean and standard error are shown. (2-way ANOVA, n = 4)
Longitudinal effects of a single LPS treatment
PET imaging
In accordance with previous results no genotype effect on [11C]PBR28 binding was found in the saline treated groups at any time point [3]. Hence, the two saline-treated groups were pooled to increase the power for further analysis of in vivo PET imaging data and subsequent immunohistochemistry analysis. Results are provided in Table 3. No significant differences between groups were observed in the thalamus, hippocampus, cerebellum and the striatum. Figure 2E shows the age-centered SUV over time in the striatum as an example of all ROIs where no significant difference between groups was found. Significant differences were however found in the cortical, ventral, and whole-brain regions.
Age-centered SUV values derived from the cortical ROI (see Fig. 2C) were significantly different between the Saline and LRRK2-LPS group at 10 months after LPS treatment (corrected p = 0.04, age-centered SUV difference 0.07 g/ml) but not between Saline and NT-LPS (corrected p = 0.4) or NT-LPS and LRRK2-LPS (corrected p = 0.8). The main effects time, treatment group and the time×group interaction were not significantly different between groups. An effect of LPS was found at 10 months (corrected p = 0.02), however there was no effect of LPS over all time points (F(1,18) = 2.289, p = 0.14).
Significantly increased uptake of [11C]PRB28 10 months after LPS treatment. Representative [11C]PBR28 PET images (A) and age-centered SUV (SUV adjusted by mean value of saline group at each time point) for whole brain (B), cortex (C), ventral-region (D) and striatal ROI (E). Analysis with linear mixed effects model showed a significant difference between saline and LRRK2-LPS groups at 10 months in whole brain (corrected p = 0.01), cortex (corrected p = 0.04) and ventral-region ROI (corrected p = 0.01) but not in the striatum (corrected p = 1). Representative PET images presented in units of SUV (activity concentration (kBq/mL) divided by injected activity per unit body weight (MBq/kg)). The images were prepared by summation of the last 45 min of the scan, followed by smoothing using 1-mm full-width half-maximum 3D Gaussian. A 0.4 mm thick slice is shown. Schematic outline of the rat brain is shown in white and an outline of the ROI ventral-region (including midbrain, brainstem, amygdala and hypothalamus) in red. Shown are mean and standard error (see Table 1 for number of animals used per time point).
Age-centered SUV values derived from the ventral-region, which includes the midbrain, brainstem, amygdala and hypothalamus, showed a significant increase between baseline and 10 months post LPS in LRRK2 p.G2019S rats (ventral-region: corrected p = 0.02, age-centered SUV difference of 0.128±0.045 g/mL). Although a smaller increase occurred in LPS treated NT rats (age-centered difference of 0.025±0.02 g/mL), the difference was not statistically significant compared to any other group (LRRK2 LPS treated, or saline treated animals). LRRK2-LPS animals at 10 months showed significantly higher [11C]PBR28 binding compared to saline treated animals (corrected p = 0.01, age-centered SUV difference 0.116 g/ml) as shown in Fig. 2D. No significant differences between Saline and NT-LPS or NT-LPS and LRRK2-LPS rats (corrected p = 0.3 and p = 0.6 respectively) or in the main effects group and the time×group interaction were found, however, a trend towards significance was observed for the main effect time (F(4,25) = 2.183, p = 0.08). Assessment of LPS effect in the ventral-region found increased uptake of [11C]PBR28 at 10 months after LPS treatment in animals treated with LPS compared to saline injected animals with a difference in age-centered SUV of 0.09 (corrected p = 0.006), and a significant main effect for LPS (F(1, 18) = 4.319, p = 0.043).
Similar results were found for whole-brain ROI. The LRRK2 p.G2019S rats treated with LPS showed a significant increase in [11C]PBR binding between baseline and 10 months post LPS (corrected p = 0.04, age-centered SUV difference 0.102 g/ml). [11C]PBR28 binding in LRRK2-LPS animals was significantly higher compared to saline treated animals at 10 months post-LPS administration (corrected p = 0.01, age-centered SUV difference 0.096 g/ml) as shown in Fig. 2B. Differences between the Saline and NT-LPS group (corrected p = 0.3) or NT-LPS and LRRK2-LPS (corrected p = 0.6) were not significant. No significant differences in the main effects time, treatment group or time×group interaction were found for the whole-brain ROI. The comparison of LPS treated rats with saline treated rats for an LPS effect found an increase of [11C]PBR28 uptake at 10 months in the region (corrected p = 0.008, age-centered SUV difference 0.08 g/ml). The main effect for LPS was significant (F(1, 18) = 4.124, p = 0.048).
Postmortem analysis
Results from the postmortem analysis, performed at 12 months after LPS administration showed an increase in striatal CD68 positive cells (Na) in the LPS treated groups of 39% for NT and 142% for LRRK2 p.G2019S animals compared to saline as shown in Fig. 3A. In the SN, a decrease in Na of 23% was assessed for NT-LPS and an increase of 27% for LRRK2 p.G2019S rats treated with LPS compared to saline treated animals (Fig. 3C). However, these differences did not reach statistical significance due to the high variability in the data. Spearman’s correlation of PET imaging data with postmortem analysis revealed a weak but significant correlation (ρ= 0.44, p = 0.046) between Na of SN and the SUV (not corrected for age) of [11C]PBR28 in the ventral-region which includes the SN. No correlation between the [11C]PBR28 binding in the striatum and results from the postmortem CD68 analysis in the striatum was found (ρ= 0.22, p = 0.3).
No differences in the number of CD68 positive cells 12 months after 3 mg/kg LPS i.p. injection. Shown are the number of CD68 positive cells (black arrows) per area (Na) in the striatum (A) and SN (C). No effects of genotype or LPS treatment were found using 2-way ANOVA. Representative images of CD68 stain in striatum and SN (B). Scale bar 100μm. n = 6–12.
Influence of LPS treatment on DA system
PET imaging
The integrity of the DA system was assessed at baseline, 6 and 10 months post LPS treatment using [11C]DTBZ. The fractional change of BPND to baseline showed no significant differences over time (F(1,15) = 2.581, p = 0.13) or between genotype (F(1,15) = 0.051, p = 0.82), treatment (F(1,15) = 1.214, p = 0.29) or the interaction of genotype×treatment (F(1,15) = 0.913, p = 0.35, see Fig. 4A).
The capacity of the DA system for dopamine uptake (Kref) and effective dopamine turnover (EDVR) was only evaluated with [18F]FDOPA 10 months after injection of LPS or saline. As shown in Fig. 4D and 4E no significant differences were found in either outcome measure for genotype, treatment or genotype×treatment interaction.
No significant differences in fractional change in BPND to baseline of [11C]DTBZ over time or between genotype and treatment groups (repeated measures 2-way ANOVA) and no significant differences in [18F]FDOPA uptake (Kref) or turnover (EDVR) (2-way ANOVA). Shown are fractional change of BPND of [11C]DTBZ to baseline (A) and effective distribution volume (EDVR) and tissue input uptake rate constant (Kref) of [18F]FDOPA (D, E) of the striatum. Representative images of an animal from the LRRK2-LPS group are shown for [11C]DTBZ (B) and [18F]FDOPA (C) in units of SUV (activity concentration (kBq/mL) divided by injected activity per unit body weight (MBq/kg) (mean and standard error)). Example PET images were prepared by summation of the final 30 min of [11C]DTBZ and 5–180 min of [18F]FDOPA scan, followed by smoothing using 1-mm full-width half-maximum 3D Gaussian. A 0.4 mm thick slice is shown. Radiotracer accumulation in the striatum and Harderian glands can be seen. Shown is the mean.
Behavioral tests
Open field testing: A significant decrease of time in center (F(1,24) = 6.197, p = 0.02) and time in motion (F(1,24) = 24.614, p < 0.0001) from 6 to 10 months was observed for all groups in open field testing (Fig. 5A, B). No effect of genotype, treatment or genotype×treatment was found for time in center. A significant effect of LPS was observed (F(1,24) = 4.322, p = 0.048) for both the LRRK2 and WT groups for time in motion but no effect of genotype or genotype×treatment interaction. Genotype was found to be a significant factor in rearing frequency in open field testing (F(1,24) = 4.879, p = 0.037) with an increasing difference of 26% to 61% between NT and LRRK2 p.G2019S animals from 6 to 10 months after treatment (Fig. 5C). No significant effects of treatment, or genotype×treatment interaction were found.
Significant effect of time in behavioral testing. Time in center (A) and time in motion (B) assessed in open field test showed a significant time effect (p = 0.02, p < 0.001, respectively). LPS treatment decreased time in motion significantly (p = 0.05). Significant effect of genotype (p = 0.04) was found for number of rearing (C) assessed in open field test. No significant differences were observed for number of slips in beam walking test (D). A significant time effect was detected in number of vanilla sniffs (E, p = 0.002) and number of total sniffs (p = 0.002) in olfactory testing. The tests were assessed at 6 and 10 months after injection of LPS with 2-way ANOVA. Rotarod (G, Time on rotarod) was evaluated at 6 months’ post LPS. No significant differences were found. (Mean, n = 5–9).
Beam Walking Test: No significant effects of genotype, treatment or genotype×treatment interaction were found in the total number of hind paw slips assessed at 6 and 10 months post LPS (Fig. 5D). Additionally, no significant effect of time was found.
Olfactory test: Olfactory test showed a significant decrease of sniffs of odor (vanilla, F(1,24) = 11.802, p = 0.002) and total sniffs (F(1,24) = 11.742, p = 0.002) from 6 to 10 months after treatment (see Fig. 5E and F, respectively). For either measurement, the biggest decrease was found for NT-LPS animals (vanilla sniffs: 69%, total sniffs: 58%) followed by LRRK2 p.G2019S rats treated with LPS (vanilla sniffs: 41%, total sniffs: 49%) and NT animals treated with saline (vanilla sniffs: 41%, total sniffs: 22%). LRRK2-Sal animals showed a slight increase in vanilla sniffs as well as total sniffs. Genotype or genotype×treatment interaction were not significant for vanilla or total sniffs.
Rotarod test: Mean time on the rotarod was evaluated 6 months after LPS injection and showed a trend towards significance for genotype (F(1,25) = 3.085, p = 0.09) with LRRK2 p.G2019S rats performing 23% worse on average compared to NT littermates (Fig. 5G), but with no effect of treatment.
Cylinder Test: The cylinder test was performed at 6 months post LPS and found no effect of genotype or treatment on number of rearings (data not shown) consistent with a previous study [23].
Postmortem analysis
TH was used as a marker of the DA system for immunohistochemistry 12 months after LPS treatment. The number of TH positive cells was evaluated in the SN whereas optical density of TH immunoreactive fibers was assessed in the striatum as shown in Fig. 6. No influence of genotype, treatment or genotype×treatment interaction was found in the SN or striatum.
No difference in TH in striatum and SN. Shown are representative images of striatum and SN sections stained for TH (A). O.D. of immunoreactive DA fibers was assessed in the striatum (B) and Nv of TH positive neurons was evaluated in the SN (C). No significant differences between saline and LPS treated groups or effect of genotype was observed by 2-way ANOVA in Nv of DA neurons in the SN or O.D. of TH immunoreactive fibers determined 12 months after injection of 3 mg/kg LPS i.p.. Shown is the mean (n = 6–12).
Age-centered SUV of [11C]PBR28 binding for each region of interest analyzed. Shown are mean and standard error per group for each time point
DISCUSSION
We explored the response of LRRK2 p.G2019S rats to a systemic inflammatory trigger as related to neuroinflammation and the consequent possible impact on the DA system over a period of 12 months. An increase of TSPO density was found 24 hours after peripheral LPS injection in several brain regions as an acute effect of treatment demonstrating effectiveness of the intervention. Longitudinal in-vivo imaging demonstrated a significant elevation of [11C]PBR28 binding in rats carrying LRRK2 p.G2019S 10 months after i.p. injection of LPS compared to rats (NT and transgenic) injected i.p. with saline, particularly in the ventral brain region which included the midbrain, brainstem, amygdala and hypothalamus. The results of the postmortem analysis with a marker for neuroinflammation (CD68) performed in the striatum were inconclusive due to high noise in the data; for technical reasons we were unable to perform a comparative postmortem analysis in the ventral brain sections. The DA system was not affected by the increased activation of microglia up to 12 months after LPS treatment confirmed by in vivo PET studies using both [11C]DTBZ and [18F]FDOPA, and by immunohistochemistry for TH. Behavioral alterations were mainly due to ageing. LPS treated animals showed a reduced time in motion in the open field test compared to saline treated animals. LRRK2 p.G2019S animals showed an increased number of rearings in the open field test, independent of treatment, as compared to NT animals.
Systemic LPS causes acute neuroinflammation
LRRK2 is expressed in high quantities not only in neurons but also in glia cells. Recently, several mutations in LRRK2 gene have been linked to neuroinflammation. To investigate the influence of inflammatory triggers like LPS on the innate immune system in the brain several different rodent models have been used in the past years. Most involve intracranial injections of low doses of LPS and lead to rapid degeneration of DA neurons [12–14]. Although valid approaches, these models do not represent the usual route of infection in humans. Peripheral injections have been used by several groups to show increased neuroinflammation in rodents but also nonhuman primates and humans [10, 45]. However, most studies only investigate neuroinflammation over a short period of time while longer studies usually require several cohorts of animals. PET imaging offers the possibility to investigate changes in different markers over time in a single cohort of animals. Here, we used [11C]PBR28 PET imaging before and up to 10 months after systemic LPS treatment to investigate inflammation in the brain in the same subjects.
First, the acute response to the chosen inflammatory trigger was investigated with [11C]PBR28 autoradiography 24 hours after systemic injection of LPS in NT and LRRK2 p.G2019S rats. As expected, an elevation of TSPO density was seen in all regions evaluated with more than doubled binding of [11C]PBR28 in the midbrain, striatum, frontal cortex and cerebellum. In line with previously published data our results show that a systemic injection of 3 mg/kg LPS leads to inflammation in the brain in our rat model [11].
Systemic LPS causes chronic neuroinflammation, possibly exacerbated by LRRK2 mutations
The main part of our study was comprised of [11C]PBR28 PET scans at baseline and, additionally, from 1.5 to 10 months after LPS injection. An overall increase of [11C]PBR28 accumulation in saline treated animals with age was seen, in line with a previous study by Walker et al. in the same rat model [3]. The age-related increase from baseline to 10 months post intervention was 0.25±0.025 g/ml for the saline treated animals in the whole-brain region (data not shown). Therefore, the outcome variable (SUV) was corrected for the effect of age on microglia activation to evaluate only the influence of LPS treatment or genotype. This allowed us to focus on the additional 40% increase as found in the whole-brain for the LRRK2-LPS group. Figure 2B and 2D show the progression of [11C]PBR28 accumulation in the whole-brain region and the ventral-region at baseline and up to 10 months after treatment. An almost identical behavior was found for both regions over time, and statistical analysis verified the similarities. The whole-brain region was a weighted average of all regions analyzed individually and included the ventral-region; given its relatively large size, the behavior of the ventral-region was the main driver of the results observed in the whole-brain region.
An elevated neuroinflammatory response of LRRK2 p.G2019S rats treated with LPS compared to saline treated animals developed and increased over time in the cortex (6 to 10 months) and ventral-region (3 to 10 months). Even though a significant LPS effect was found irrespective of the mutation status, the LPS-treated LRRK2 animals showed consistently higher [11C]PBR28 binding values in the cortex and ventral-regions compared to LPS-treated NT animals at 10 months, albeit this increase did not reach statistical significance. Contrary to our expectations LRRK2 p.G2019S rats, similar to NT animals, did not show a clear elevation of neuroinflammation in the striatum 1.5 to 10 months after the LPS challenge. This was corroborated by immunohistochemistry for a marker of activated microglia (CD68). CD68 positive cells per area were evaluated in the striatum and SN and no significant difference between LRRK2 p.G2019S rats or NT littermates treated with LPS and saline treated animals was found. Nonetheless, a trend for significance of an LPS effect between groups was observed in the striatum (p = 0.2) despite the high variability in the postmortem data (see limitations). The resolution of PET imaging is limited and therefore it is possible that this trend for an LPS effect in the postmortem data was not yet detectable with PET imaging for neuroinflammation. On the other hand, the same reasoning would confirm the robustness of the PET findings for the ventral striatum.
No influence of systemic LPS on DA system
Behavioral testing, in vivo PET imaging using [11C]DTBZ and [18F]FDOPA and immunohistochemistry with TH were used to investigate the influence of a single inflammatory trigger on the DA system of LRRK2 p.G2019S rats and NT littermates.
We found a trend towards significance for reduced rotarod performance in LRRK2 p.G2019S rats compared to NT littermates with no effect of treatment or treatment×genotype interaction at 6 months post LPS (10 month of age). This outcome is consistent with a previous study in the same LRRK2 model and with that of Sloan et al. who found significantly reduced rotarod performance in LRRK2 G2019S TG rats compared to non-transgenic controls in old animals (18–21 months) [23, 46]. No differences in number of steps in beam walking test related to genotype or LPS treatment were found. Open field and olfactory tests showed a significant effect of time in all groups, which is most likely related to ageing of the rats. High variability, most likely due to the small group size, in both tests make interpretation of the results difficult. Our LRRK2 p.G2019S rat model showed increased number of rearings at 6 and 10 months after LPS injection compared to NT animals and a reduced decrease of time in motion at 10 months in open field test. This could be interpreted as a hyperkinetic phenotype as seen by Longo et al. in LRRK2 p.G2019S mice. Their model showed increased activity in open field compared to WT mice until 19 months of age. Nevertheless, their model showed constantly better performance on rotarod compared to WT contrary to our findings [23, 47].
We hypothesized that persistent neuroinflammation induced by a single inflammatory trigger in LRRK2 p.G2019S rats would lead to degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway. Our results did not detect exacerbated inflammation in the striatum using [11C]PBR28 PET imaging or striatum and SN with immunohistochemistry for CD68. Hence, it is not surprising that no degeneration of the DA system was found. Neither the integrity of the DA system nor DA turnover or uptake were significantly altered 6 or 10 months after the inflammatory trigger. Influences of genotype were evaluated as well and similarly showed no effect. Additionally, Nv of TH positive neurons in the SN and O.D. of TH immunoreactive fibers in the striatum were evaluated 12 months after LPS treatment and showed no significant differences.
Our results are in line with previously published characterizations of LRRK2 p.G2019S rodent models. Loss of DA neurons or nigrostriatal dysfunction have only been described in few transgenic LRRK2 p.G2019S mouse models [48, 49] but to our knowledge not in transgenic rats [23, 24] suggesting that LRRK2 G2019S mutations do not influence the DA system directly. The addition of an inflammatory trigger did not lead to loss of DA neurons as seen by Qin et al. in a wild-type mouse model. They described loss of DA neurons in the SN and increased microglia activation 7 and 10 months after systemic injection of LPS [50]. Our results showed increased inflammation only in the cortex and ventral-region of the brain 10 months after LPS treatment and we could not confirm an impact of this neuroinflammation on the DA system. Nevertheless, not only DA but also other neurotransmitters are involved in PD, and have gained more interest in recent years. Choline, noradrenaline and serotonin are involved in motor- as well as non-motor symptoms of PD [51]. The increased inflammation we found, especially in the ventral-region of the brain, could affect those neurotransmitter systems. Indeed, coincidentally, most of the monoaminergic cell bodies that are known to be among the most sensitive neurons to injury and inflammation are located in this ventral-region, suggesting a path for preferential deficit to repeated exposure over time.
Limitations of the study
Limitations of the current study are the high variability and a non-parametric distribution in the postmortem immunohistochemistry results and limited choice of immunostaining markers. The main reason for the variability is that not all brain tissue from each animal could be included in the analysis for technical reasons. Tissue was initially stained with Iba1 and CD68 with the intent to assess both microglia numbers and their morphology. However, due to the presence of an unexpectedly high background staining (from technical problem), these tissues had to be excluded from the study. The immunohistochemistry protocol was improved and re-validated, but due to the limited number of tissue sections that remained we continued only with CD68 as a marker for activated microglia. Although CD68 is not only expressed in activated microglia but also in other cell types like endothelial cells or lymphocytes, it is still an accepted marker for microglia activation [29, 30]. However, immunohistochemistry using the microglia marker Iba1 would have allowed differentiation between ramified and activated microglia by morphology, which would have strengthened the current study.
The reduced number of brain sections in the striatum and SN most likely increased the variability in Na and Nv. The postmortem analysis was however included only as an exploratory comparison to the imaging data (where the longitudinal progress was the aspect of most interest) rather than being the primary end-point of interest. The lack of correlation between the imaging data and postmortem analysis in the striatum and the weak correlation between SN and ventral-region is likely in part due to the variability in the data, different spatial resolution of the two techniques and the non-identical binding targets for the in-vitro measurement (CD68) and in-vivo ([11C]PBR28). Future studies, which would control for animal handling, anesthesia and other effects, could specifically address LPS -induced expression of cytokines and transcriptional factors. Furthermore, the small group size in NT groups for behavioral tests meant that these tests had only modest power. The numbers of rats in the control groups were small due to the exploratory character of the behavioral aspects in this study, with the focus being on longitudinal PET imaging where repeated imaging of the same individuals greatly enhances the power of the study. Following our previous study [3], we did not expect large variation of [11C]PBR28 SUV within our groups. An additional limitation is that the scope of the PET imaging was limited to 10 months after LPS treatment. It is possible that microglia activation in the ventral-region precedes that in other regions of the brain like the striatum or SN. Several studies of PD patients have suggested increased inflammation in the basal ganglia, pons, midbrain and different areas of the cortex [6, 52]. Notwithstanding, more studies investigating the course of neuroinflammation in the prodromal stage of PD are needed, for example in unaffected LRRK2 G2019S or α-syn A53T carriers to assess disease on-set and development of PD.
Here, we used a single peripheral LPS treatment at the age of 4 months to model a human infection. Other, and possibly more effective, models could be multiple peripheral LPS challenges, e.g. with lower doses of LPS, or a single inflammatory trigger at an older age. For example, a comparably designed study using α-synuclein A53T transgenic mice subjected to one peripheral LPS injection at the age of 7 months showed persistent inflammation in the SN and striatum and progressive neurodegeneration of the DA system compared to NT and saline treated TG mice [17]. The mice used by Goa et al. were treated with LPS at an older age compared to our study which could suggest that LRRK2 p.G2019S rats should have been treated at a later time point after microglia priming is complete. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether priming of microglia occurs in our LRRK2 model; an interesting next step would be the exploration of the hypothesis that multiple exposures and/or more advanced age would indeed result in differential vulnerability to neuroinflammation and dopaminergic deficit for carriers of this mutation. This would be consistent with the observation that the exacerbated neuroinflammation in the LPS-treated LRRK2 TG animals only started to become noticeable 6 months after administration and seemed to keep increasing at the end of this study. This hypothesis would also be supported by a non-complete and age dependent penetrance associated with LRRK2 mutations.
In summary, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of a single peripheral inflammatory trigger on neuroinflammation and the DA system in a LRRK2 p.G2019S rat model compared to NT littermates using a longitudinal study design. We found long lasting, progressive neuroinflammation in LPS treated rats compared to saline treated animals in the ventral-regions and in the cortex. Further, when compared individually, only the LRRK2 animals had significantly higher neuroinflammation compared to saline treated controls at 10 months post LPS leading to the speculation that a differential response to a single inflammatory trigger in LRRK2 animals may only develop over longer times. Interestingly, these increases were not observed in the striatum. No degeneration of the DA system was detected at any time point with PET or immunohistochemistry. These data suggest that either the single inflammatory trigger did not lead to prolonged and exacerbated neuroinflammation in the striatum or SN of LRRK2 p.G2019S rats with resultant degeneration of the DA system, or that these effects develop over a time period greater than 12 months, or that these effects may have been present but at levels below our detection limit. A possible translational conclusion of this study is that repeated exposure to inflammatory triggers is likely needed for LRRK2 mutation carriers to develop active PD.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Footnotes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the staff of the UBC veterinary staff and UBC animal research unit for their assistance with animal welfare. Rick Kornelsen, Siobhan McCormick, Miguel Mejias and Darryl Bannon helped with PET scanning and behavioral tests. Christine Takhar helped with radiotracer production. Additionally, we thank Prof. Martin Parent and Prof. Marina Emborg and their groups for help in improving our immunohistochemistry protocols, and Yuka Obayashi and Nazia Hossain with implementing them. Prof. Erik De Vries, Rodrigo Moraga-Amaro and Bruno Lima-Giacobbo helped during the writing of this manuscript. Funding for this project was provided by the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (V.S.), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), grant FRN: MFE 123709 (M.D.W), and the Canada Excellence Research Chair (M.J.F.) program.