The influence of a given cytokine is not singular, and at different times, might

be pro- or anti-inflammatory, and thus have neuro-protective or neuro-destructive effects. Free radicals are increased by up-regulation of iNOS; and astrocytes simultaneously induce HO-1 which promotes reduction of damaging ROS (Min et al., 2006). During activation, microglia proliferate, and proliferation is stimulated by IL1-β and TNF-α (Mander et al., 2006). If microglial activation becomes chronic, microglia synthesize neurotoxic levels of quinolinic selleck chemicals acid (Espey et al., 1997) and promote extracellular glutamate concentrations sufficient to cause neuritic beading and cell death (Takeuchi et al., 2005). Pro-inflammatory cytokines inhibit glutamate transporters, which sustain abnormally high levels of extra-cellular glutamate and thus, cyclic re-activation (Minami et al., 1991). Findings from in vivo and in vitro studies show that Pb exposure alters cellular functions in ways that might be expected to promote chronic microglial activation. Pb accumulation in erythrocytes results in increased brain δ-ALA which enhances and prolongs microglial activation (Kaushal et al., 2007). Moreover, microglia interact functionally with astrocytes, via cytokines (Verderio and

Matteoli, 2001), prostaglandins (Mohri et al., 2006) and nitric oxide synthase (Sola et al., 2002). Excess δ-ALA irreversibly inhibits glutamate uptake by astrocytes, via alteration of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 (Emanuelli learn more et al., 2003). Glutamate potentiates astrocytic increases in Ca2+ via activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (Zonta et al., 2003). δ-ALA triggers astrocytic Ca2+ ADAMTS5 waves which in turn activate microglia over large distances (Schipke et al., 2001). Thus, by way of multiple mechanisms, free-floating Pb in brain tissue and increased brain δ-ALA might be expected to promote neuroimmune system disruption, chronic microglial activation and microglia proliferation, as evidenced by altered levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory markers including

TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL6, IL10, iNOS and HO-1, increased microglial mean cell body number, and mean cell body volume. The aim of this study was to examine evidence of neuroimmune and brain structure differences in young C57BL/6J mice, with and without chronic Pb exposure. In child studies, Pb exposure has been associated with reduced short-term and working memory (see Section 1), which are subserved by dentate gyrus (DG) (Niewoehner et al., 2007), a sub-component of the hippocampal formation. In rodent models, low-level Pb exposure resulted in diminished recognition memory (see Section 1) which is also subserved by dentate gyrus (Jessberger et al., 2009); moreover, DG microglia have been shown to play a critical role in the maintenance of neural genesis and spatial learning and memory (Ziv et al., 2006).