%0 Journal Article %T Glial cell activity is maintained during prolonged inflammatory challenge in rats %A Borges %A B.C. %A Rorato %A R. %A Antunes-Rodrigues %A J %A Elias %A L.L.K. %J Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research %D 2012 %I Associa??o Brasileira de Divulga??o Cient¨ªfica %R 10.1590/S0100-879X2012007500069 %X we evaluated the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (gfap), glutamine synthetase (gs), ionized calcium binding adaptor protein-1 (iba-1), and ferritin in rats after single or repeated lipopolysaccharide (lps) treatment, which is known to induce endotoxin tolerance and glial activation. male wistar rats (200-250 g) received ip injections of lps (100 ¦Ìg/kg) or saline for 6 days: 6 saline (n = 5), 5 saline + 1 lps (n = 6) and 6 lps (n = 6). after the sixth injection, the rats were perfused and the brains were collected for immunohistochemistry. after a single lps dose, the number of gfap-positive cells increased in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (arc; 1 lps: 35.6 ¡À 1.4 vs control: 23.1 ¡À 2.5) and hippocampus (1 lps: 165.0 ¡À 3.0 vs control: 137.5 ¡À 2.5), and interestingly, 6 lps injections further increased gfap expression in these regions (arc = 52.5 ¡À 4.3; hippocampus = 182.2 ¡À 4.1). we found a higher gs expression only in the hippocampus of the 6 lps injections group (56.6 ¡À 0.8 vs 46.7 ¡À 1.9). ferritin-positive cells increased similarly in the hippocampus of rats treated with a single (49.2 ¡À 1.7 vs 28.1 ¡À 1.9) or repeated (47.6 ¡À 1.1 vs 28.1 ¡À 1.9) lps dose. single lps enhanced iba-1 in the paraventricular nucleus (pvn: 92.8 ¡À 4.1 vs 65.2 ¡À 2.2) and hippocampus (99.4 ¡À 4.4 vs 73.8 ¡À 2.1), but had no effect in the retrochiasmatic nucleus (rca) and arc. interestingly, 6 lps increased the iba-1 expression in these hypothalamic and hippocampal regions (rca: 57.8 ¡À 4.6 vs 36.6 ¡À 2.2; arc: 62.4 ¡À 6.0 vs 37.0 ¡À 2.2; pvn: 100.7 ¡À 4.4 vs 65.2 ¡À 2.2; hippocampus: 123.0 ¡À 3.8 vs 73.8 ¡À 2.1). the results suggest that repeated lps treatment stimulates the expression of glial activation markers, protecting neuronal activity during prolonged inflammatory challenges. %K lps tolerance %K astrocytes %K microglia %K glial fibrillary acidic protein %K iba-1 %K glutamine synthetase %K ferritin. %U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0100-879X2012007500069&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en