SD stress does not induce monocyte infiltration into the brain
Previous studies have shown that in response to psychological stress, peripheral monocytes infiltrate into the brain where they alter affective behavior and microglia activation (for review, see [
52]). Our first question, therefore, was whether a well-characterized form of psychosocial stress—which by design involves minimal physical contact with an aggressor animal and reliably produces profound depressive-like, anxiety-like, and antisocial behaviors [
37,
38]—also induces monocyte infiltration. Our first main finding of the study is that acute SD and chronic SD do not elicit monocyte infiltration into the brain. Because it is very difficult to prove a negative result, we approached this question using three distinct methods. First, through flow cytometry, we found the percentage of CD11b
hi CD45
hi macrophages in the brain was similarly low among all treatment conditions. Second, in an adoptive transfer experiment, GFP-expressing splenocytes were transferred into wildtype mice and tracked in the brain and spleen. Although transferred GFP+ cells successfully colonized wildtype spleen, no cells were detected in the brains of stressed mice. As a positive control, we detected GFP+ cells in the brains of wildtype animals given a strong immune stimulus (i.p. LPS + i.c.v. IL-1β). Third,
Ccr2
wt/rfp
Cx3cr1
wt/gfp
transgenic crosses were made to track monocytes in the brain. CCR2, the chemokine receptor that regulates cell mobilization to inflammatory sites, is strongly expressed on inflammatory monocytes [
53]. Neither flow cytometry nor immunochemistry revealed the presence of CCR2-RFP+ cells in brain parenchyma after stress. Labeled cells where limited mainly to the meninges and choroid plexus in all animals.
Our finding contrasts with reports of monocyte infiltration and macrophage engraftment following various forms of stress [
9‐
11]. What might be the reason for the discrepancy? First, some studies use a different form of social defeat stress, called repeated social defeat (RSD), in which daily agonistic interactions with the aggressor last for 2 h, after which the aggressor is removed from the cage [
10,
45]. In contrast, we use 5 min of agonistic interaction coupled with 24 h of dyadic housing; a combination that contributes powerfully to the overall decline in affect in our studies [
34,
36‐
38] and others [
54]. Thus, stressor type and severity may be important. It has been reported that severe stressors, like repeated footshock, elevated cytokine levels in the brain, whereas a form of social defeat did not [
55]. Some stressors may invoke a physical or strong physiological component that initiates monocyte trafficking into the brain and the affective sequelae. For example, following liver damage, monocytes enter the brain where they activate microglia and induce depressive-like behavior [
56]. Severe pilocarpine-induced seizures that cause neuronal cell death also result in macrophage entry [
57]. Cold stress, footshock, and prolonged agonistic interactions possibly associated with wounding might constitute similar kinds of physiological and physical challenges. Indeed, in the RSD model, wounding is a likely explanation for the reported enlarged spleens and glucocorticoid resistance seen in these animals [
52]. Engagement of the peripheral immune system might be exacerbated by other environmental factors that vary between laboratories, such as gut microbiota that can shape CNS activity and affective behavior [
58]. We here show that psychological stress alone can produce strong effects on affective behavior without triggering monocyte infiltration.
Second, most studies showing stress- or pain-induced monocyte entry into the brain also employ either irradiation or chemotherapeutic agents to create bone-marrow chimeras with labeled hematopoietic cells [
9‐
11,
59]. These treatments can degrade the integrity of the blood-brain barrier [
60‐
63]. In contrast, chimera studies that utilize parabiosis, in which the bloodstream of a GFP-positive partner is connected to a GFP-negative mouse, BM-derived GFP+ peripheral cells are completely absent from the CNS [
31,
64]. Thus, irradiation and chemotherapy permit the entry of bone marrow-derived myeloid cells into the tissue. Interestingly, this effect is being exploited for its therapeutic potential. Chemotherapeutics such as busulfan are used to promote transmigration of donor-derived monocytes to the brain [
63,
65]. Thus, degradation of the blood-brain barrier may underlie the observed monocyte infiltration and engraftment in stress studies employing irradiation [
9,
11,
59] or busulfan treatment [
10].
There are several additional noteworthy points. First, we found that CCR2 knockout mice showed chronic SD-induced depressive-like behaviors associated with no monocyte infiltration into the brain. Thus, knocking out the function of CCR2 did not confer behavioral resilience to social defeat stress in this chronic SD model as opposed to the RSD model in which it did [
10]. The fact that we see reduced affect in the CCR2 knockout mouse supports our contention that chronic SD manifests the effects of psychological stressors devoid of physiological or pathological content that engages the periphery. Second, we wondered whether monocyte infiltration into the brain might account for the increased microglial cell numbers seen after acute SD. Again, it has been reported that monocytes can enter the brain and assume the morphological characteristics of microglia, but only after irradiation and blood-brain barrier compromise [
26,
66]. Thus, the increased cell numbers reflect production of new microglia from local progenitor cells [
32], a finding that expands on previous studies [
67,
68].
SD stress does not induce microglial shape changes
We further performed a rigorous quantitative morphological analysis of six features of microglial shape using an automated method [
44]. Through this method, we examined 6716 microglia across three stress-responsive brain regions. While we detected no change in microglia morphology after either acute SD or chronic SD, we did observe regionally heterogeneous morphological changes after LPS administration. Profound changes measured in LPS-stimulated animals confirmed that the automated method could detect changes in cell morphology. In each of the three regions examined, LPS elicited noticeable effects on soma size and shape. However, we were surprised to see that hypothalamic microglia were more sensitive to LPS compared to microglia in the cortex and hippocampus. Within the PVN only, we detected significant reductions in cell process length and eccentricity. Relatively few studies have reported microglial responses to inflammatory challenge that vary according to location [
69‐
71]. Changes in microglia morphology in the PVN highlight its heightened immune-alert state compared to other regions, which seems appropriate given the PVN is a major autonomic and neuroendocrine region that regulates sympathetic outflow. Interestingly, the vasculature of the PVN appears to be particularly sensitive to peripheral LPS challenge [
72]. SD stress, surprisingly, had little effect on any of the morphological parameters.
These results stand in strong contrast to numerous other studies showing stress-induced changes in microglial morphology, although the direction and actual morphological change reported in these studies have not been consistent. For instance, stress has been reported to both de-ramify and hyper-ramify microglia, to increase and decrease cell size, and to increase and decrease Iba1 levels [
33,
45,
50,
73,
74]. Differences may be due to the method used to detect microglia morphology. We choose endogenous GFP in
Cx3cr1
wt/gfp
mice as our detection and measurement method because there has been no clear demonstration that Iba1 staining reflects true cell morphology or just the intracellular distribution of Iba1 and its particular response to challenge. Indeed, Iba1 is expressed only weakly by resting ramified microglia but strongly by activated microglia [
42,
75,
76]. Therefore, Iba1 immunohistochemistry may not capture the finer complexity of resting microglia or the precise changes in cell structure during activation, whereas GFP staining of the entire cell faithfully and passively follows changes in shape. It is important to add that absence of shape changes does not mean the cells are not phenotypically changed, and indeed they are as shown by flow cytometry gating CD68 and the ex vivo phagocytosis assay data.
Acute SD induces region-specific microglial proliferation
Our last main finding is a definitive increase in microglial proliferation following 2 days of acute SD. Levels returned to control levels at 14 days (chronic SD), confirming a similar pattern seen in the hippocampus of mice given a regimen of unpredictable stressors [
33]. Microglia expansion occurred in telencephalic areas associated with emotional regulation. No changes were seen in stress-associated subcortical nuclei. It has been suggested that proliferation is a response to elevated glucocorticoids (GCs) in acute stress conditions [
68], but the regional specificity of change is a mystery. Microglia can show regional and insult-specific responses [
78]. Thus, pockets of proliferation may be where local neural or hormonal signals govern microglial proliferation. Interestingly, voluntary exercise increases microglial proliferation selectively within layers 1–3 of the caudal neocortex [
67], a pattern shared with a zone of activity-dependent upregulation of growth factors that support microglial proliferation [
79,
80].
If stress-elevated GCs, i.e., corticosterone, are supporting proliferation, then the actions are likely to depend on dose, timing, and context. Very low levels of GCs have been shown to support proliferation whereas higher levels of corticosterone associated with stress exposure [
35] are potently anti-proliferative [
81]. The development of GC resistance may negate hormone effects in the chronic SD condition. For instance, chronic GC exposure reduces the expression of glucocorticoid-responsive genes such as GILZ (glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper) and FKBP51 [
45]. Many molecules and conditions besides GCs can trigger microglial proliferation and activation (see [
17] for review), and the observed results may be due to a combination of stress effectors.
Functionally, there may be strategic advantage to increasing the number of surveying brain immune cells during short-term threat exposure. Enhancement of immune function confers increased protection following wounding or infection that may occur during stress exposure [
82,
83]. In contrast, chronic stress is well known to suppress immune function, presumably to protect the host from the detrimental consequences of an overactive inflammatory immune response [
1,
84‐
87]. Thereby, the cumulative impact of chronic stress exposure induces microglial apoptosis [
33,
68,
88]. The switch from acute-augmenting to chronic-suppressive stress effects on immune function may occur during the “resistance phase” of the “syndrome of adaptation,” described by Hans Selye [
89], in which adaptive processes reinstate homeostasis during stress.