It has been established recently that inflammation of the CNS is accompanied by an expression of chemokines within the CNS. Several lines of evidence suggest that chemokines within the CNS initiate and orchestrate the infiltration of the inflamed brain by blood leukocytes. It is also known that endogenous cells of the CNS express functional chemokine receptors, raising the possibility that chemokines may be involved in intercellular signalling between brain cells during @entity198 . It was shown recently that two chemokine ligands for @entity366 are induced rapidly in damaged neurons. Little is known yet on the function of neuronal chemokine expression. In order to investigate whether neuronal chemokines contribute to endogenous signalling within the CNS we investigated possible expression of @entity366 in glial cells. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction experiments and in situ hybridization analysis showed that cultured astrocytes and microglia from both @entity19 and @entity1 sources express @entity366 mRNA. Protein expression of @entity366 in both cell types was detected by immunocytochemistry. Moreover, stimulation of cultured glial cells with chemokine ligands for @entity366 induced intracellular @entity460 transients and chemotaxis, indicating the functional expression of @entity366 . These results indicate that glial cells in culture functionally express the chemokine receptor @entity366 . Since it has been shown that @entity75 rapidly induces expression of neuronal chemokines that activate @entity366 , we suggest that glial @entity366 might contribute to an intercellular signalling system in the CNS related to pathological conditions.

Functional expression of CXCR3 in cultured @entity19 and XXXX astrocytes and microglia.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['human'] @entity198 :: ('MESH:D004660', 'Disease') :: ['brain inflammation'] @entity19 :: ('10090', 'Species') :: ['mouse'] @entity75 :: ('MESH:D001927', 'Disease') :: ['brain damage'] @entity460 :: ('MESH:D002118', 'Chemical') :: ['calcium'] @entity366 :: ('2833', 'Gene') :: ['CXCR3']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['human']
