Age-dependent Powassan virus lethality is linked to glial cell activation and divergent neuroinflammatory cytokine responses in a murine model.

Unlabelled: Powassan virus (POWV) is an emergent tick-borne flavivirus that causes fatal encephalitis in the elderly and long-term neurologic sequelae in survivors. How age contributes to severe POWV encephalitis remains an enigma, and no animal models have assessed age-dependent POWV neuropathology. Inoculating C57BL/6 mice with a POWV strain (LI9) currently circulating in ticks resulted in age-dependent POWV lethality 10-20 dpi.

A graded neonatal mouse model of necrotizing enterocolitis demonstrates that mild enterocolitis is sufficient to activate microglia and increase cerebral cytokine expression.

Background: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory gastrointestinal process that afflicts approximately 10% of preterm infants born in the United States each year, with a mortality rate of 30%. NEC severity is graded using Bell's classification system, from stage I mild NEC to stage III severe NEC. Over half of NEC survivors present with neurodevelopmental impairment during adolescence, a long-term complication that is poorly understood but can occur even after mild NEC.

The role of endogenous versus exogenous tPA on edema formation in murine ICH.

To minimize the neurotoxic injury by clot-derived substances after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) on the surrounding brain tissue, minimally invasive neurosurgical protocols have evolved evacuating the hematoma by stereotaxic injection of a fibrinolytic agent such as recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA), followed by aspiration of the lysed clot. However, the possible contribution of the presence of exogenous tPA itself to the toxic effects of hematoma-derived factors complicates the rationale and efficacy of this therapeutic approach. To clarify the role of exogenous rtPA on edema development, we examined the extent of edema formation in a murine model of collagenase-induced ICH, which included tPA-deficient (tPA-/-) and wild-type (wt) mice.