Gunjigake Kaori K, Goto Tetsuya, Nakao Kayoko, Kobayashi Shigeru, Yamaguchi Kazunori
Division of Orofacial Functions and Orthodontics, Kyushu Dental College, Kitakyushu, 803-8580, Japan.
Acta Histochem Cytochem. 2009 Oct 30;42(5):143-9. doi: 10.1267/ahc.09017. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
The neurons in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) are surrounded by satellite glial cells (SGCs), which passively support the function of the neurons, but little is known about the interactions between SGCs and TG neurons after peripheral nerve injury. To examine the effect of nerve injury on SGCs, we investigated the activation of SGCs after neuronal damage due to the extraction of the upper molars in rats. Three, 7, and 10 days after extraction, animals were fixed and the TG was removed. Cryosections of the ganglia were immunostained with antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of activated SGCs, and ATF3, a marker of damaged neurons. After tooth extraction, the number of ATF3-immunoreactive (IR) neurons enclosed by GFAP-IR SGCs had increased in a time-dependent manner in the maxillary nerve region of the TG. Although ATF3-IR neurons were not detected in the mandibular nerve region, the number of GFAP-IR SGCs increased in both the maxillary and mandibular nerve regions. Our results suggest that peripheral nerve injury affects the activation of TG neurons and the SGCs around the injured neurons. Moreover, our data suggest the existence of a neuronal interaction between maxillary and mandibular neurons via SGC activation.
三叉神经节（TG）中的神经元被卫星神经胶质细胞（SGCs）所包围，这些细胞被动地支持神经元的功能，但关于周围神经损伤后SGCs与TG神经元之间的相互作用却知之甚少。为了研究神经损伤对SGCs的影响，我们通过拔除大鼠上颌磨牙造成神经元损伤，进而研究SGCs的激活情况。拔牙后3天、7天和10天，将动物处死并取出TG。用针对胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP，一种激活的SGCs标志物）和ATF3（一种受损神经元标志物）的抗体对神经节冰冻切片进行免疫染色。拔牙后，TG上颌神经区域中被GFAP免疫反应性（IR）SGCs包围的ATF3免疫反应性（IR）神经元数量呈时间依赖性增加。虽然在下颌神经区域未检测到ATF3-IR神经元，但上颌和下颌神经区域中GFAP-IR SGCs的数量均增加。我们的结果表明，周围神经损伤会影响TG神经元以及受损神经元周围SGCs的激活。此外，我们的数据表明上颌和下颌神经元之间可能通过SGC激活存在神经元间相互作用。
