Garland, E.F. orcid.org/0000-0002-8501-4326, Antony, H., Kulagowska, L. et al. (5 more authors) (2024) The microglial translocator protein (TSPO) in Alzheimer’s disease reflects a phagocytic phenotype. Acta Neuropathologica, 148. 62. ISSN 0001-6322
Abstract
Translocator protein (TSPO) is a mitochondrial protein expressed by microglia, ligands for which are used as a marker of neuroinflammation in PET studies of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We previously showed increasing TSPO load in the cerebral cortex with AD progression, consistent with TSPO PET scan findings. Here, we aim to characterise the microglial phenotype associated with TSPO expression to aid interpretation of the signal generated by TSPO ligands in patients. Human post-mortem sections of temporal lobe (TL) and cerebellum (Cb) from cases classified by Braak group (0–II, III–IV, V–VI; each n = 10) were fluorescently double labelled for TSPO and microglial markers: Iba1, HLA-DR, CD68, MSR-A and CD64. Quantification was performed on scanned images using QuPath software to assess the microglial phenotype of TSPO. Qualitative analysis was also performed for TSPO with GFAP (astrocytes), CD31 (endothelial cells) and CD163 (perivascular macrophages) to characterise the cellular profile of TSPO. The percentage of CD68+TSPO+ double-labelled cells was significantly higher than for other microglial markers in both brain regions and in all Braak stages, followed by MSR-A+TSPO+ microglia. Iba1+TSPO+ cells were more numerous in the cerebellum than the temporal lobe, while CD64+TSPO+ cells were more numerous in the temporal lobe. No differences were observed for the other microglial markers. TSPO expression was also detected in endothelial cells, but not detected in astrocytes nor in perivascular macrophages. Our data suggest that TSPO is mainly related to a phagocytic profile of microglia (CD68+) in human AD, potentially highlighting the ongoing neurodegeneration.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Alzheimer’s disease; Human; Inflammation; Microglia; Translocator protein; Humans; Alzheimer Disease; Receptors, GABA; Microglia; Male; Female; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Phagocytosis; Phenotype; Antigens, CD; Cerebellum; Temporal Lobe; Microfilament Proteins; Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic; Calcium-Binding Proteins |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Medicine and Population Health |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 13 Dec 2024 15:11 |
Last Modified: | 13 Dec 2024 15:11 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00401-024-02822-x |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:220369 |