Abstract
Reperfusion
injury following ischemic stroke is a complex pathophysiological
process involving numerous mechanisms ranging from the release of
excitatory amino acids and ion disequilibrium to the induction of
apoptosis and necrosis, to oxidative stress and inflammation. The
migration of neutrophils into the brain parenchyma and release of their
abundant proteases are generally considered the main cause of neuronal
cell death and acute reperfusion injury following ischemic stroke.
Recent findings in experimental and human stroke have challenged this
view, as the majority of neutrophils were rather found to accumulate
within the neurovascular unit (NVU) and the subarachnoid space (SAS)
where they remain separated from the brain parenchyma by the glia limitans.
The brain parenchyma is an immune-privileged site that is not readily
accessible to immune cells and does not elicit stereotypic adaptive or
innate immune responses. Understanding brain immune privilege requires
intimate knowledge of its unique anatomy in which the brain barriers,
that include the glia limitans, establish compartments that
differ remarkably with regard to their accessibility to the immune
system. We here propose that the brain immune privilege also extends to
an ischemic insult, where the brain parenchyma does not evoke a rapid
infiltration of neutrophils as observed in ischemic events in peripheral
organs. Rather, neutrophil accumulation in the NVU and SAS could have a
potential impact on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage from the central
nervous system (CNS) and thus on edema formation and reperfusion injury
after ischemic stroke. Integrating the anatomical and functional
implications of the brain immune privilege with the unquestionable role
of neutrophils in reperfusion injury is a prerequisite to exploit
appropriate strategies for therapeutic interventions aiming to reduce
neuronal cell death after ischemic stroke.
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