TY - JOUR
T1 - In utero administration of drugs targeting microglia improves the neurodevelopmental outcome following cytomegalovirus infection of the rat fetal brain
AU - Cloarec, Robin
AU - Bauer, Sylvian
AU - Teissier, Natacha
AU - Schaller, Fabienne
AU - Luche, Hervé
AU - Courtens, Sandra
AU - Salmi, Manal
AU - Pauly, Vanessa
AU - Bois, Emilie
AU - Pallesi-Pocachard, Emilie
AU - Buhler, Emmanuelle
AU - Michel, François J.
AU - Gressens, Pierre
AU - Malissen, Marie
AU - Stamminger, Thomas
AU - Streblow, Daniel N.
AU - Bruneau, Nadine
AU - Szepetowski, Pierre
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Cloarec, Bauer, Teissier, Schaller, Luche, Courtens, Salmi, Pauly, Bois, Pallesi-Pocachard, Buhler, Michel, Gressens, Malissen, Stamminger, Streblow, Bruneau and Szepetowski.
PY - 2018/3/6
Y1 - 2018/3/6
N2 - Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections represent one leading cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. Recently, we reported on a rat model of CMV infection of the developing brain in utero, characterized by early and prominent infection and alteration of microglia—the brain-resident mononuclear phagocytes. Besides their canonical function against pathogens, microglia are also pivotal to brain development. Here we show that CMV infection of the rat fetal brain recapitulated key postnatal phenotypes of human congenital CMV including increased mortality, sensorimotor impairment reminiscent of cerebral palsy, hearing defects, and epileptic seizures. The possible influence of early microglia alteration on those phenotypes was then questioned by pharmacological targeting of microglia during pregnancy. One single administration of clodronate liposomes in the embryonic brains at the time of CMV injection to deplete microglia, and maternal feeding with doxycyxline throughout pregnancy to modify microglia in the litters’ brains, were both associated with dramatic improvements of survival, body weight gain, sensorimotor development and with decreased risk of epileptic seizures. Improvement of microglia activation status did not persist postnatally after doxycycline discontinuation; also, active brain infection remained unchanged by doxycycline. Altogether our data indicate that early microglia alteration, rather than brain CMV load per se, is instrumental in influencing survival and the neurological outcomes of CMV-infected rats, and suggest that microglia might participate in the neurological outcome of congenital CMV in humans. Furthermore this study represents a first proof-of-principle for the design of microglia-targeted preventive strategies in the context of congenital CMV infection of the brain.
AB - Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections represent one leading cause of neurodevelopmental disorders. Recently, we reported on a rat model of CMV infection of the developing brain in utero, characterized by early and prominent infection and alteration of microglia—the brain-resident mononuclear phagocytes. Besides their canonical function against pathogens, microglia are also pivotal to brain development. Here we show that CMV infection of the rat fetal brain recapitulated key postnatal phenotypes of human congenital CMV including increased mortality, sensorimotor impairment reminiscent of cerebral palsy, hearing defects, and epileptic seizures. The possible influence of early microglia alteration on those phenotypes was then questioned by pharmacological targeting of microglia during pregnancy. One single administration of clodronate liposomes in the embryonic brains at the time of CMV injection to deplete microglia, and maternal feeding with doxycyxline throughout pregnancy to modify microglia in the litters’ brains, were both associated with dramatic improvements of survival, body weight gain, sensorimotor development and with decreased risk of epileptic seizures. Improvement of microglia activation status did not persist postnatally after doxycycline discontinuation; also, active brain infection remained unchanged by doxycycline. Altogether our data indicate that early microglia alteration, rather than brain CMV load per se, is instrumental in influencing survival and the neurological outcomes of CMV-infected rats, and suggest that microglia might participate in the neurological outcome of congenital CMV in humans. Furthermore this study represents a first proof-of-principle for the design of microglia-targeted preventive strategies in the context of congenital CMV infection of the brain.
KW - Cytomegalovirus
KW - Fetal brain
KW - Microglia
KW - Neurological outcome
KW - Rat model
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85043603607&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fncel.2018.00055
DO - 10.3389/fncel.2018.00055
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85043603607
SN - 1662-5102
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
M1 - 55
ER -