Progression of reactive gliosis and astroglial phenotypic changes following stab wound-induced traumatic brain injury in mice.

Astrocytes are the main homeostatic cells in the central nervous system (CNS) and they have an essential role in preserving neuronal physiology. After brain injury, astrocytes become reactive, and that involves a profound change in the astroglial gene expression program as well as intense cytoskeleton remodeling that has been classically shown by the up-regulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a pan-reactive gene over-expressed in reactive astrocytes, independently of the type of injury. Using the stab wound rodent model of penetrating traumatic injury in the cortex, we here studied the reactive astroglial morphology and reactive microgliosis in detail at 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days post-injury (dpi).