Remote astrocytic response of prefrontal cortex is caused by the lesions in the nucleus basalis of Meynert, but not in the ventral tegmental area

The nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) was lesioned by injection of ibotenic acid, in 200 g male Wistar rats. The rats were killed 1, 3, 7 or 21 days after surgery, the brains were removed and the prefrontal cortices were subjected to immunohistochemical and Western blot analysis for the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). In some rats, vehicle was injected into the nbM and in others 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) was injected into the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Quantitative Western blot analysis revealed significantly greater immunoreactivity for GFAP in the prefrontal cortex of nbM-lesioned rats. Immunohistochemical examination revealed fibrous and hypertrophic GFAP-positive astrocytes even one day after surgery, and this reaction was stronger at 3 days after surgery. After this peak, GFAP-immunoreactivity of the astrocytes decreased from 7 days to 21 days. In contrast, GFAP-positive astrocytes were not observed in the brains of vehicle-injected or VTA-lesioned rats, even 21 days after surgery. The present results indicate that cortical astrocytes respond to cholinergic deafferentation. In addition, our findings provide new insights into the abnormalities of cortical glial cells after cholinergic deafferentation in Alzheimer's disease.