Non-invasive fluorescent imaging of gliosis in transgenic mice for profiling developmental neurotoxicity

Gliosis is a universal response of the brain to almost all types of neural insults, including neurotoxicity, neurodegeneration, viral infection, and stroke. A hallmark of gliotic reaction is the up-regulation of the astrocytic biomarker GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein), which often precedes the anatomically apparent damages in the brain. In this study, neonatal transgenic mice at postnatal day (PD) 4 expressing GFP (green fluorescent protein) under the control of a widely used 2.2-kb human GFAP promoter in the brain are treated with two model neurotoxicants, 1-methyl-4(2′-methylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (2′-CH3-MPTP), and kainic acid (KA), respectively, to induce gliosis. Here we show that the neurotoxicant-induced acute gliosis can be non-invasively imaged and quantified in the brain of conscious (un-anesthetized) mice in real-time, at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h post-toxicant dosing. Therefore the current methodology could be a useful tool for studying the developmental aspects of neuropathies and neurotoxicity.