Increased expression of bioactive chemokines in human cerebromicrovascular endothelial cells and astrocytes subjected to simulated ischemia in vitro

Leukocyte infiltration into the brain has been implicated in the development of ischemic brain damage. In this study, simulated in vitro ischemia/reperfusion and IL-1β were found to up-regulate both the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in cultured human cerebromicrovascular endothelial cells (HCEC) and the adhesion of allogenic neutrophils to HCEC. Both HCEC and human fetal astrocytes (FHAS) also responded to IL-1β and to in vitro ischemia/reperfusion by a pronounced up-regulation of IL-8 and MCP-1 mRNA and by increased release of IL-8 and MCP-1 in cell culture media. FHAS were found to release 30-times higher levels of MCP-1 than HCEC under both basal and ischemic conditions. However, 100 u/ml IL-1β induced greater stimulation of both IL-8 and MCP-1 secretion in HCEC (50 and 20 times above controls, respectively) than in FHAS (three and two times above controls, respectively). IL-8 was the principal neutrophil chemoattractant released from IL-1β-treated HCEC, since IL-8 antibody completely inhibited neutrophil chemotaxis enticed by HCEC media. However, the IL-8 antibody neutralized only 50% of IL-1β-stimulated neutrophil chemoattractants released from FHAS, and 40%–60% of ischemia-stimulated chemotactic activity released by either HCEC or FHAS. These results suggest that simulated in vitro ischemia, in addition to IL-8 and MCP-1, stimulates secretion of other bioactive chemokines from HCEC and FHAS.