DIFFERENTIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY OF SENILE AND LESION-INDUCED ASTROGLIOSISTO PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE

The susceptibility of age- and lesion-induced astrogliosis to the trea tment with phosphatidylserine was investigated with the use of GFAP im munoblotting. The existence of age-induced upregulation of GFAP conten t was confirmed in the hippocampus, septum, and corpus callosum of the rat. The Ptd-Ser treatment of the aged rats further increased the GFA P content in the hippocampus and corpus callosum. The GFAP content inc rease in the corpus callosum was additionally illustrated by the upreg ulation in GFAP immunostaining. In the septum no further elevation of GFAP was observed after Ptd-Ser treatment, and in the striatum the com pound elicited significant GFAP content increase, absent in the untrea ted aged rat brain striatum. In the intact adult rat brain no effect o f Ptd-Ser on GFAP content was observed; neither did the compound elici t any modulation of the astrogliosis related to the mechanical lesion of the brain in the septum, hippocampus, cortex, and striatum. In the corpus callosum, Ptd-Ser potentiated the GFAP content increase related to the mechanical lesion, pointing to the structure-related heterogen eity of astrocytic population. Because it has been previously found th at Ptd-Ser partly reverses one of the aspects of rodent brain aging, t he aging-induced decrease of the acetylcholine release, the possibilit y exists that the effects of Ptd-Ser administration on glia and neuron s in the aged brain may be related. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scienc e Inc.