Traumatic Brain Injury Induces Macrophage Subsets In The Brain

We compared arginase-1+ macrophages (macrophages were defined by flow cytometry as CD45hi CD11b+ Ly6G-) with arginase-1- brain macrophages following traumatic brain injury (TBI) by isolating these cells from YARG transgenic mice, which express YFP under the arginase-1 promoter. Both cell populations were isolated from YARG brain tissues one day following TBI. We also examined the expression profile of peripheral blood monocytes (monocytes were defined by flow cytometry as CD11bhi F4/80+) from injured YARG mice and from normal YARG mice. Peripheral blood samples were compared to TBI brain macrophages to assess gene expression changes before and after infiltration into the brain. TBI macrophage subsets were identified by using a reporter mouse strain (YARG) that expresses eYFP from an IRES inserted at the 3' end of the gene for arginase-1 (Arg1), a hallmark of alternatively activated (M2) macrophages. One day after TBI, 21±1.5% of ipsilateral brain macrophages expressed relatively high levels of Arg1 as detected by YFP. Gene expression analysis of Arg1+ and Arg1- brain macrophage populations revealed that these populations were distinct from either classically activated (M1) macrophages or M2 macrophages, with features of both. The Arg1+ cells differed from Arg1- cells in multiple aspects, most notably in their chemokine repertoires. Thus, the macrophage response to TBI involves recruitment of at least two major macrophage subsets. Overall, our data indicate that the macrophage response to TBI is heterogeneous and unique. Four groups (Arg1- brain macrophages post-TBI, Arg1+ brain macrophages post-TBI, normal blood monocytes, blood monocytes post-TBI) were analyzed. Four replicates of each group were analyzed for a total of 16 samples (only 3 replicates of the blood monocyte groups are included in this submission).