Microglia Are Mediators of Borrelia burgdorferi–Induced Apoptosis
By Linda on Nov 14, 2009 in Infections | comments(0)
Inflammation has long been implicated as a contributor to pathogenesis
in many CNS illnesses, including Lyme neuroborreliosis. Borrelia
burgdorferi is the spirochete that causes Lyme disease and it is known
to potently induce the production of inflammatory mediators in a variety
of cells. In experiments where B. burgdorferi was co-cultured in vitro
with primary microglia, we observed robust expression and release of
IL-6 and IL-8, CCL2 (MCP-1), CCL3 (MIP-1?), CCL4 (MIP-1?) and CCL5
(RANTES), but we detected no induction of microglial apoptosis. In
contrast, SH-SY5Y (SY) neuroblastoma cells co-cultured with B.
burgdorferi expressed negligible amounts of inflammatory mediators and
also remained resistant to apoptosis. Continued
