Increased permeability of blood–brain barrier on the hippocampus of a murine model of senescence

SAMP8 mice show several indicative characteristics of accelerated aging and have been used to study the physiological and physiopathological processes that take place during senescence. There is some controversy about the presence of a functional blood–brain barrier (BBB) disturbance on these animals, which could be related to the oxidative stress or the amyloidosis present in their brain. In order to elucidate BBB status in the hippocampus of SAMP8 mice, in this study we have determined the extravasation from brain microvessels of endogenous IgG in SAMP8 mice aged 3, 7 and 12 months and in age-matched control SAMR1 mice. Immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy and an imaging methodology specially designed to quantify IgG extravasation have been used. The choroid plexus was analyzed as a control for positive extravasation in SAMP8 and SAMR1 mice and, as expected, in all studied ages high IgG immunoreactivity was observed in both strains. We have found significantly higher levels of IgG extravasation in the hippocampus of 12-month-old SAMP8 mice compared to SAMR1 mice, indicating an increased permeability of BBB in aged senescence-accelerated mice.