P. Mattsson et al., Complement activation and CD59 expression in the motor facial nucleus following intracranial transection of the facial nerve in the adult rat, J NEUROIMM, 91(1-2), 1998, pp. 180-189
Intracranial transection of the facial nerve has been shown to cause a mass
ive neuronal cell death in the motor facial nucleus. Complement activation
has been proposed to contribute to neuronal degeneration following axotomy.
Using immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization we show in the present
study that there is complement activation in the facial nucleus after intr
acranial facial nerve transection as well as increase of the complement reg
ulators CD59 and clusterin. We propose a neuroprotective role for the compl
ement regulators CD59 and clusterin against homologous attack of complement
to facial motor neurons. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve
d.