Stress protein co-localization to autofluorescent astrocytic inclusions in situ and in cysteamine-treated glial cultures.

In the aging brain, a unique subpopulation of limbic and periventricular astrocytes accumulates red autofluorescent, peroxidase-positive cytoplasmic inclusions distinct from lipofuscin. Cysteamine (CSH) exposure rapidly induces identical inclusions in cultured, immature astroglia. CSH induces a cellular stress response prior to astrocyte granulation. To determine whether stress proteins are actual constituents of the autofluorescent granules, 12-week-old rat brain sections and CSH-treated astroglial cultures were immunostained with various anti-stress protein antibodies and evaluated by laser scanning confocal microscopy. We observed intense co-localization of heat shock protein (HSP) 27 and ubiquitin (Ub) to the autofluorescent astrocyte granules in situ and in CSH-treated glial cultures. In both preparations, glucose regulated protein (GRP) 94 consistently exhibited partial co-localization to the granule periphery and adjacent cytoplasm. In contrast, HSP72 co-localization to these inclusions was only occasionally seen and the granules appeared entirely devoid of HSP90 and alpha B-crystallin. Acute exposure of cultured astroglia to CSH induced intense cytoplasmic Ub staining, suggesting that activation of the Ub pathway may be an early event in the biogenesis of these astrocytic granules. Taken together, our results support the notion that the autofluorescent astrocyte inclusions are stress or heat shock granules which progressively accumulate in the aging periventricular brain. Moreover, CSH greatly accelerates the appearance of this senescent astrocyte phenotype in primary culture.