Androgen action on astroglial cells in the motor cortex and internal capsule in a mouse model of motoneuron disease

BANZÁN, CAROLINA; MEYER, MARIA; ESPERANTE, IVÁN; LIMA ANALÍA; ROIG P; DE NICOLA A. F.; GONZALEZ DENISELLE MC

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta SAIC, SAI&FAIC, SAFIS; 2022

Wobbler (WR) mouse, a model for human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), shows motoneuron degeneration with increased astrogliosis and microgliosis in the spinal cord and motor cortex. In this work, we studied testosterone (T) effects on brain glial cells from male WRs and controls. Therefore, a silastic tube containing T was implanted s.c. in WRs at symptomatic stage for 2 months. We analyzed the number of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+ astrocytes and glutamine synthetase (GS)+ cells/unit area in motor cortex and internal capsule from male controls, WRs and WR+T. Previous data showed that a group of WR astrocytes are GS negative in the spinal cord, enzyme necessary to detoxify glutamate into glutamine. We found a 2-fold increase in the number of GFAP+ cells/area in internal capsule (p