Aminochrome induces microglia and astrocyte activation

- Aminochrome induces neuronal death in primary mesencephalic neuron-glia cultures.
- Aminochrome induces morphological changes in GFAP-immunoreactive cells.
- Aminochrome increases the number of amoeboid microglia and OX-42 positive cells.
- Aminochrome increases the number NF-κB p50 positive cells.

Aminochrome has been suggested as a more physiological preclinical model capable of inducing five of the six mechanisms of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Until now, there is no evidence that aminochrome induces glial activation related to neuroinflammation, an important mechanism involved in the loss of dopaminergic neurons. In this study, the potential role of aminochrome on glial activation was studied in primary mesencephalic neuron-glia cultures and microglial primary culture from Wistar rats. We demonstrated that aminochrome induced a reduction in the number of viable cells on cultures exposed to concentration between 10 and 100 μM. Moreover, aminochrome induces neuronal death determined by Fluoro-jade B. Furthermore, we demonstrated that aminochrome induced reduction in the number of TH-immunoreactive neurons and reactive gliosis, featured by morphological changes in GFAP+ and Iba1+ cells, increase in the number of OX-42+ cells and increase in the number of NF-κB p50 immunoreactive cells. These results demonstrate aminochrome neuroinflammatory ability and support the hypothesis that it may be a better PD preclinical model to find new pharmacological treatment that stop the development of this disease.