Changes to Astrocyte-associated Protein Expression at Different Timepoints of Cuprizone Treatment.

Glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes, are brain cells that support and dynamically interact with neurons and each other. These intercellular dynamics undergo changes during stress and disease states. In response to most forms of stress, astrocytes will undergo some variation of activation, meaning upregulation in certain proteins expressed and secreted and either upregulations or downregulations to various constitutive and normal functions.

Increased blood-brain barrier hyperpermeability coincides with mast cell activation early under cuprizone administration.

The cuprizone induced animal model of demyelination is characterized by demyelination in many regions of the brain with high levels of demyelination in the corpus callosum as well as changes in neuronal function by 4-6 weeks of exposure. The model is used as a tool to study demyelination and subsequent degeneration as well as therapeutic interventions on these effects. Historically, the cuprizone model has been shown to contain no alterations to blood-brain barrier integrity, a key feature in many diseases that affect the central nervous system.