Effects of oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) on barrier properties and mRNA transcript levels of selected marker proteins in brain endothelial cells/astrocyte co-cultures

Erica Tornabene, Hans Christian Cederberg Helms, Stine Falsig Pedersen, Birger Brodin*

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Ischemic stroke has been shown to induce breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, although these changes are not fully characterized. Oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) has been used to investigate the effects of ischemia in cultured brain capillary endothelial cells, however this involves a change of medium which in itself may affect the cells. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of OGD and simple medium exchange followed by 48 h of reperfusion on barrier properties of primary bovine endothelial cells co-cultured with rat astrocytes. Barrier properties were evaluated by transendothelial electrical resistance measurements, passive permeability of flux markers, RT-qPCR and immunocyto-chemistry. Both OGD and simple medium exchange caused an increase in endothelial monolayer permeability. This correlated with reduced transcript levels of a number of tight junction and tight junction-associated proteins (claudin-1, claudin-5, occludin, ZO-1, tricellulin, marveld3 and PECAM-1), as well as with altered transcript level of several transporters and receptors (GLUT-1, HB-EGF, InsR, TfR, two members of the low density lipoprotein receptor family, LDLR and LRP-1, and the efflux transporter BCRP). In contrast, effects induced specifically by OGD were transient de-localization of claudin-5 from the junction zone, increased InsR localization at the plasma membrane and transient downregulation of MRP-1 and P-gp transcript levels. In conclusion, OGD caused changes in claudin-5 and InsR localization, as well as in MRP-1 and P-gp transcript levels. Our results however also indicated that medium exchange alone caused changes in functional barrier properties and expression levels of wide range of proteins.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0221103
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume14
Issue number8
Number of pages20
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

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