Abstract
Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States. Because post-stroke inflammation is a critical determinant of damage and recovery after stroke, understanding the interplay between the immune system and the brain after stroke holds much promise for therapeutic intervention. An understudied, but important aspect of this interplay is the role of meninges that surround the brain. All blood vessels travel through the meningeal space before entering the brain parenchyma, making the meninges ideally located to act as an immune gatekeeper for the underlying parenchyma. Emerging evidence suggests that the actions of immune cells resident in the meninges are essential for executing this gatekeeper function. Mast cells (MCs), best known as proinflammatory effector cells, are one of the long-term resident immune cells in the meninges. Here, we discuss recent findings in the literature regarding the role of MCs located in the meningeal space and stroke pathology. We review the latest advances in mouse models to investigate the roles of MCs and MC-derived products in vivo, and the importance of using these mouse models. We examine the concept of the meninges playing a critical role in brain and immune interactions, reevaluate the perspectives on the key effectors of stroke pathology, and discuss the opportunities and challenges for therapeutic development.
Introduction
Every year, ~800,000 people suffer from stroke in the United States (Benjamin et al., ). The currently available therapies for acute stroke focus on removal of the blood clot, either pharmacologically or mechanically (Fisher and Saver, ). With advances in careful patient selection for these therapies, the time window for therapy initiation can be extended up to 24 h (Albers et al., ; Nogueira et al., ). However, the majority of patients are still not eligible for these therapies. Ischemic stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot. This initiates a cascade of events that includes excitotoxicity, free radical release, mitochondrial changes, and various degrees of immune response that leads to neuronal and glial cell death, blood-brain barrier dysfunction and ultimately the clinical symptoms (Moskowitz et al., ; Knowland et al., ; George and Steinberg, ). The timing of these events differ, and additionally, the post-stroke immune response has different phases that can be detrimental or beneficial (Anrather and Iadecola, ). Thus, a detailed understanding of the post-stroke immune response is necessary in order to better utilize its therapeutic potential.
The brain is long considered to be an immune-privileged organ (Louveau et al., ). This is in part due to its anatomical isolation from the rest of the body, having its own unique resident immune cells (microglia), and having restricted access for circulating immune cells under homeostatic conditions. This is important for homeostatic functions but becomes especially important in pathological conditions. More recently, meninges—the membranes surrounding the brain—have been proposed to play important roles in the regulation of brain-immune interactions (Rua and McGavern, ). Emerging evidence suggests that the actions of immune cells resident in the meninges are important for the immunoregulatory role of the meninges (Rua and McGavern, ). Mast cells (MCs) reside in high numbers within the meninges. These tissue-resident immune cells have proinflammatory and immunoregulatory roles (Grimbaldeston et al., ; Biggs et al., ; Galli et al., ; Tsai et al., ), and play key functions in both innate and adaptive immune responses. They act as constitutive or inducible sources of many cytokines, chemokines and proteases (Mukai et al., ). This makes them potential targets for therapeutic intervention, depending on their roles in the pathophysiology. Fortunately, there are several methodologies to study the role of MCs and MC-derived products in vivo (Galli et al., ).
Here, we discuss the evidence that MCs located in the meningeal space can worsen stroke pathology. We also review some of the latest advances in mouse models to investigate the roles of MCs and MC-derived products in vivo, and the importance of using these mouse models. We examine the concept of the meninges playing a critical role in brain and immune interactions, reevaluate perspectives on key effectors of stroke pathology, and discuss the opportunities and challenges for therapeutic development.
Meninges as Key Sites for Brain Immune Access
Meninges are the connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. They consist of three layers (Figure 1): an outer thick layer, dura mater, that is attached to the skull, an inner thin layer, pia mater, that is attached to the brain and spinal cord parenchyma, and a spider net-like structure, arachnoid mater, in between the dura and pia maters. The blood vessels and the cerebrospinal fluid exist within the space between the arachnoid mater and pia mater (subarachnoid space). The meninges have long been considered as just an anatomical barrier; however, accumulating evidence suggests that they are important for brain–immune communications in health and disease (Androdias et al., ; Derecki et al., ; Shechter et al., ; Kwong et al., ; Benakis et al., ). All the arteries that penetrate the brain parenchyma first travel through the subarachnoid space before entering into the brain. The venous blood then travels along the sinuses within the dura mater before exiting the skull. Moreover, the recent discovery of the central nervous system (CNS)’s lymphatic vessels within the meninges highlights their potential role in brain–immune interactions (Aspelund et al., ; Louveau et al., ). These meningeal lymphatics have been shown to be important in controlling both neuroinflammatory events and immune cell trafficking (Louveau et al., ). Additionally, direct vascular channels that traverse the meninges have been discovered recently between the bone marrow in the skull and the brain surface (Herisson et al., ). These direct vascular channels help enable myeloid cell migration into the brain parenchyma in stroke (Herisson et al., ). All these vascular structures (the arteries and veins, meningeal lymphatic vessels, and direct vascular channels) travel through the meninges, making the meninges ideal for a possible gatekeeper role (Rua and McGavern, ).
Figure 1
While some immune cells locate to dura mater after stroke (Benakis et al.,
Cellular Elements of Post-Stroke Inflammation
Inflammation is critically important in stroke pathology. Several elements of the immune system play roles at different time points after stroke. The first immune cells to respond to interruption of blood flow to the brain are the resident microglia. There is evidence that microglia show signs of activation within 30 min to 1 h after stroke (Ito et al.,
One of the first immune cells that infiltrate the brain after stroke is the neutrophil. They start infiltrating around 6 h after stroke onset and reach peak numbers at 24 h (Perez-de-Puig et al.,
Monocytes follow neutrophils in parenchymal infiltration after a stroke, starting to infiltrate around 6–48 h after stroke onset and staying in the brain weeks thereafter (Lambertsen et al.,
The response of lymphocytes (T and B cells) after stroke is quite different from that of the other immune cells as they tend to infiltrate the brain at later time points (days) and stay longer (weeks to months) after stroke onset (Liesz et al.,
MCs have been proposed to play important roles in stroke pathology. Specifically, cerebral MCs were shown to worsen the brain swelling and neutrophil accumulation after stroke (Strbian et al.,
Overall, despite being a major participant in stroke pathology, inflammatory responses after stroke are complex, and attempts should be made to understand their detailed pathophysiological mechanisms before attempting therapeutic interventions.
In Vivo Models to Study MC Function (“MC Knock-In Mice”)
MCs are tissue-resident immune cells derived from bone marrow. Small numbers of MC progenitors exist in the blood, but they complete their differentiation and maturation in tissue microenvironments (Galli et al.,
In order to identify a role for MCs in different biological settings, one can ablate MCs selectively (either by a drug or antibody, or genetically) to support their necessity, and then replace their function selectively to support claims of sufficiency. Pharmacological approaches such as MC stabilizers (cromolyn) or activators (c48/80) have commonly been used to infer a role for MCs. However, both of these drugs can have MC-independent effects on other immune cells (Arumugam et al.,
As these approaches lack true specificity for MCs, genetic approaches represent a more definitive way to assess the functions of MCs in vivo. Two commonly used genetically MC-deficient mice are the KitW/W-v and KitW-sh/W-sh mice. These mice have different types of mutations affecting the c-kit gene that result in a profound deficiency of MCs and melanocytes in both mice. However, both WBB6F1-KitW/W-v and C57BL/6-KitW-sh/W-sh also have several other abnormalities within and outside the immune system, including effects on hematopoietic cells other than MCs (Galli et al.,
Despite the power of MC knock-in mice, these mice still carry potential problems inherent to c-kit related abnormalities (and other abnormalities in the KitW-sh/W-sh mice) in the mutant mice. To overcome this issue, MC-deficient mice with normal c-kit function were developed by using MC-specific Cre recombinase approach (Dudeck et al.,
Given all these in vivo models to study MC function (with different pros and cons), one recommended approach has been to use more than one of these models to assess the initial biological responses, and if there are consistent results between the models, then proceeding to further studies (Galli et al.,
Meningeal MCs Exacerbate Stroke Pathology
We utilized some of these various in vivo models in order to assess the role of MCs in stroke pathology (Arac et al.,
Because the MC deficiencies in both of these models are in all examined tissues, it is hard to discern which population of MCs might be critical for this effect. Thus, we compared the number of CNS MCs in the MC-engrafted WBB6F1-KitW/W-v mice to those of WT (WBB6F1-Kit+/+) mice. Both WT mice and MC-engrafted mice had similar numbers of MCs in the dura and pia mater both before and 2 weeks after stroke (Figures 2A,B). In contrast, the brain parenchyma of the MC-engrafted mice had either no or substantially fewer MCs (Figure 2C). These data strongly suggest that brain parenchymal MCs are not responsible for the MC-dependent worsening of the stroke pathology observed in this mouse model. It instead suggests a potential role for meningeal MCs in modulating this response. Moreover, the density of MCs in the dura mater of both WT and MC-engrafted mice (15–27 cells/mm2) is similar to that in humans (Varatharaj et al.,
Figure 2

Location of MCs in the central nervous system (CNS). Representative toluidine blue-stained images of and quantification of MCs in dura mater (A), pia mater (B), and brain parenchyma (C) of MC-deficient WBB6F1-KitW/W-v mice and the corresponding wild type (WT) mice and MC-engrafted KitW/W-v mice. MCs stain purple with toluidine blue; arrows indicate representative MCs. Insets show magnified images of MCs in each tissue. Data are expressed as means+SEM. The number of mice in each group is indicated in (or over) each bar. *P < 0.05. Scale bars: 100 mm (A–C). Reprinted from Arac et al. (
To test whether the meningeal MCs are sufficient in modulating the MC-dependent stroke pathology, we engrafted BMCMCs locally into the meninges. With a modified intracranial injection method, the MCs engraft only in the meninges and the number of meningeal MCs in MC-engrafted animals are similar to those of the WT mice (Sayed et al.,
Figure 3

Meningeal gene expression changes after stroke. (A) Heatmap showing the fold-change in expression of genes significantly changed (p < 0.05) after stroke in WT (WBB6F1-Kit+/+) mice with the corresponding change in expression in MC-deficient (WBB6F1-KitW/W-v) and MC-engrafted [WBB6F1-KitW/W-v mice which had been engrafted in the meninges with WT bone marrow-derived, culturedMCs (BMCMCs)] mice (irrespective of whether the gene changes in these two groups after stroke reach significance). The genes represented are those with an absolute fold-change after stroke of ≥1.5 in WT mice. (B) Pathway map of the functional grouping of genes that were significantly upregulated after stroke in WT mice. (C) Dot plots showing the log2 fold-change in expression after stroke of genes within the indicated gene ontology groups in each of three mouse groups. The genes represented in each gene ontology group were significantly upregulated after stroke in WT mice, with a fold-change of ≥1.5. Each data point within a mouse group represents a different gene. Red line indicates median. *p < 0.05; #p = 0.05.
In order to identify the MC-derived products that influence stroke pathology, BMCMCs derived from two candidate factor-deficient mice (IL-6 and CCL7) were injected into the meninges of MC-deficient mice (Arac et al.,
There are several questions that require further studies. For example, how does the meningeal MC-derived IL-6 execute its function to exacerbate stroke pathology? What downstream pathways are involved in this biological response? Does it alter the meningeal access of immune cells to the brain? What are its effects on brain meningeal lymphatics? Likewise, what are the mechanisms involved in stimulating the meningeal MCs to release IL-6 after a stroke? Are there other MC-derived factors that also might be involved in worsening the stroke pathology? Contrary to these, could anti-coagulative effects of MC-derived heparin proteoglycan and/or proteases have effects in dissolving the blood clot in ischemic stroke? Moreover, there could also be other, yet to be identified, meningeal MC-derived products that are important in the repair process after stroke. Thus, one should be cautious in directly targeting MCs as a therapeutic for stroke (Ocak et al.,
Opportunities and Challenges for Future
Immune responses after stroke are complex with many elements involved, and it is not the focus of this article to comprehensively review that literature; interested readers can find up-to-date review articles on this topic (McCombe and Read,
Identifying the roles of several immune elements in stroke pathology is critical for the development of effective therapeutics. Fortunately, there are many advanced immunological tools to perform mechanistic studies. Without such detailed characterization of post-stroke immune responses, performing clinical tests of potential targets will likely result in failures, and may decrease the enthusiasm for future studies.
Statements
Data availability statement
The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.
Author contributions
AA wrote the initial draft of the review. All authors contributed to revising the manuscript, reading and approving the submitted version.
Funding
This work was supported in part by Stanford School of Medicine Dean’s Fellowship (Neizer Funds; AA); National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants NS065723 (AA), NS109315 (AA), NS080062 and NS37520-08 (GS) and AI070813, AI023990, and CA072074 (SG); Russell and Elizabeth Siegelman (GS); Bernard and Ronni Lacroute (GS); William Randolph Hearst Foundation (GS); an Australian NHMRC Career Development Fellowship and NHMRC project grants (MG).
Acknowledgments
We thank Christine Plant for assistance with the manuscript.
Conflict of interest
GS is a consultant for Qool Therapeutics, Peter Lazic US, Inc., and NeuroSave. MG is employed by Genentech Inc.
The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
1
AlbersG. W.MarksM. P.KempS.ChristensenS.TsaiJ. P.Ortega-GutierrezS.et al. (2018). Thrombectomy for stroke at 6 to 16 hours with selection by perfusion imaging. N. Engl. J. Med.378, 708–718. 10.1056/NEJMoa1713973
2
AllenC.ThorntonP.DenesA.McCollB. W.PierozynskiA.MonestierM.et al. (2012). Neutrophil cerebrovascular transmigration triggers rapid neurotoxicity through release of proteases associated with decondensed DNA. J. Immunol.189, 381–392. 10.4049/jimmunol.1200409
3
AndrodiasG.ReynoldsR.ChanalM.RitlengC.ConfavreuxC.NatafS. (2010). Meningeal T cells associate with diffuse axonal loss in multiple sclerosis spinal cords. Ann. Neurol.68, 465–476. 10.1002/ana.22054
4
AnratherJ.IadecolaC. (2016). Inflammation and stroke: an overview. Neurotherapeutics13, 661–670. 10.1007/s13311-016-0483-x
5
AracA.BrownellS. E.RothbardJ. B.ChenC.KoR. M.PereiraM. P.et al. (2011). Systemic augmentation of αB-crystallin provides therapeutic benefit twelve hours post-stroke onset via immune modulation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A108, 13287–13292. 10.1073/pnas.1107368108
6
AracA.GrimbaldestonM. A.NepomucenoA. R.OlayiwolaO.PereiraM. P.NishiyamaY.et al. (2014). Evidence that meningeal mast cells can worsen stroke pathology in mice. Am. J. Pathol.184, 2493–2504. 10.1016/j.ajpath.2014.06.003
7
ArumugamT.RamachandranV.LogsdonC. D. (2006). Effect of cromolyn on S100P interactions with RAGE and pancreatic cancer growth and invasion in mouse models. J. Natl. Cancer Inst.98, 1806–1818. 10.1093/jnci/djj498
8
AspelundA.AntilaS.ProulxS. T.KarlsenT. V.KaramanS.DetmarM.et al. (2015). A dural lymphatic vascular system that drains brain interstitial fluid and macromolecules. J. Exp. Med.212, 991–999. 10.1084/jem.20142290
9
BenakisC.LloveraG.LieszA. (2018). The meningeal and choroidal infiltration routes for leukocytes in stroke. Ther. Adv. Neurol. Disord.11:1756286418783708. 10.1177/1756286418783708
10
BenjaminE. J.ViraniS. S.CallawayC. W.ChamberlainA. M.ChangA. R.ChengS.et al. (2018). Heart disease and stroke statistics-2018 update: a report from the american heart association. Circulation137, e67–e492. 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000558
11
BiggsL.YuC.FedoricB.LopezA. F.GalliS. J.GrimbaldestonM. A. (2010). Evidence that vitamin D(3) promotes mast cell-dependent reduction of chronic UVB-induced skin pathology in mice. J. Exp. Med.207, 455–463. 10.1084/jem.20091725
12
BiranV.CochoisV.KarroubiA.ArrangJ. M.Charriaut-MarlangueC.HeronA. (2008). Stroke induces histamine accumulation and mast cell degranulation in the neonatal rat brain. Brain Pathol.18, 1–9. 10.1111/j.1750-3639.2007.00092.x
13
ChenY.BodhankarS.MurphyS. J.VandenbarkA. A.AlkayedN. J.OffnerH. (2012). Intrastriatal B-cell administration limits infarct size after stroke in B-cell deficient mice. Metab. Brain Dis.27, 487–493. 10.1007/s11011-012-9317-7
14
ChristofferssonG.VågesjöE.VandoorenJ.LidenM.MassenaS.ReinertR. B.et al. (2012). VEGF-A recruits a proangiogenic MMP-9-delivering neutrophil subset that induces angiogenesis in transplanted hypoxic tissue. Blood120, 4653–4662. 10.1182/blood-2012-04-421040
15
ClarksonB. D.LingC.ShiY.HarrisM. G.RayasamA.SunD.et al. (2014). T cell-derived interleukin (IL)-21 promotes brain injury following stroke in mice. J. Exp. Med.211, 595–604. 10.1084/jem.20131377
16
ClausenB. H.LambertsenK. L.BabcockA. A.HolmT. H.Dagnaes-HansenF.FinsenB. (2008). Interleukin-1beta and tumor necrosis factor-alpha are expressed by different subsets of microglia and macrophages after ischemic stroke in mice. J. Neuroinflammation5:46. 10.1186/1742-2094-5-46
17
CuarteroM. I.BallesterosI.MoragaA.NombelaF.VivancosJ.HamiltonJ. A.et al. (2013). N2 neutrophils, novel players in brain inflammation after stroke: modulation by the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone. Stroke44, 3498–3508. 10.1161/strokeaha.113.002470
18
DereckiN. C.CardaniA. N.YangC. H.QuinniesK. M.CrihfieldA.LynchK. R.et al. (2010). Regulation of learning and memory by meningeal immunity: a key role for IL-4. J. Exp. Med.207, 1067–1080. 10.1084/jem.20091419
19
DimlichR. V.KellerJ. T.StraussT. A.FrittsM. J. (1991). Linear arrays of homogeneous mast cells in the dura mater of the rat. J. Neurocytol.20, 485–503. 10.1007/bf01252276
20
DoyleK. P.QuachL. N.SoleM.AxtellR. C.NguyenT. V.Soler-LlavinaG. J.et al. (2015). B-lymphocyte-mediated delayed cognitive impairment following stroke. J. Neurosci.35, 2133–2145. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4098-14.2015
21
DudeckA.DudeckJ.ScholtenJ.PetzoldA.SurianarayananS.KohlerA.et al. (2011). Mast cells are key promoters of contact allergy that mediate the adjuvant effects of haptens. Immunity34, 973–984. 10.1016/j.immuni.2011.03.028
22
FeyerabendT. B.WeiserA.TietzA.StassenM.HarrisN.KopfM.et al. (2011). Cre-mediated cell ablation contests mast cell contribution in models of antibody- and T cell-mediated autoimmunity. Immunity35, 832–844. 10.1016/j.immuni.2011.09.015
23
FisherM.SaverJ. L. (2015). Future directions of acute ischaemic stroke therapy. Lancet Neurol.14, 758–767. 10.1016/s1474-4422(15)00054-x
24
GalliS. J.BorregaardN.WynnT. A. (2011). Phenotypic and functional plasticity of cells of innate immunity: macrophages, mast cells and neutrophils. Nat. Immunol.12, 1035–1044. 10.1038/ni.2109
25
GalliS. J.GrimbaldestonM.TsaiM. (2008). Immunomodulatory mast cells: negative, as well as positive, regulators of immunity. Nat. Rev. Immunol.8, 478–486. 10.1038/nri2327
26
GalliS. J.KalesnikoffJ.GrimbaldestonM. A.PiliponskyA. M.WilliamsC. M.TsaiM. (2005). Mast cells as “tunable” effector and immunoregulatory cells: recent advances. Annu. Rev. Immunol.23, 749–786. 10.1146/annurev.immunol.21.120601.141025
27
GalliS. J.TsaiM. (2012). IgE and mast cells in allergic disease. Nat. Med.18, 693–704. 10.1038/nm.2755
28
GalliS. J.TsaiM.MarichalT.TchougounovaE.ReberL. L.PejlerG. (2015). Approaches for analyzing the roles of mast cells and their proteases in vivo. Adv. Immunol.126, 45–127. 10.1016/bs.ai.2014.11.002
29
Garcia-BonillaL.FaracoG.MooreJ.MurphyM.RacchumiG.SrinivasanJ.et al. (2016). Spatio-temporal profile, phenotypic diversity and fate of recruited monocytes into the post-ischemic brain. J. Neuroinflammation13:285. 10.1186/s12974-016-0750-0
30
GeorgeP. M.SteinbergG. K. (2015). Novel stroke therapeutics: unraveling stroke pathophysiology and its impact on clinical treatments. Neuron87, 297–309. 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.05.041
31
GrimbaldestonM. A.ChenC. C.PiliponskyA. M.TsaiM.TamS. Y.GalliS. J. (2005). Mast cell-deficient W-sash c-kit mutant Kit W-sh/W-sh mice as a model for investigating mast cell biology in vivo. Am. J. Pathol.167, 835–848. 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)62055-X
32
GrimbaldestonM. A.NakaeS.KalesnikoffJ.TsaiM.GalliS. J. (2007). Mast cell-derived interleukin 10 limits skin pathology in contact dermatitis and chronic irradiation with ultraviolet B. Nat. Immunol.8, 1095–1104. 10.1038/ni1503
33
HerissonF.FrodermannV.CourtiesG.RohdeD.SunY.VandoorneK.et al. (2018). Direct vascular channels connect skull bone marrow and the brain surface enabling myeloid cell migration. Nat. Neurosci.21, 1209–1217. 10.1038/s41593-018-0213-2
34
IadecolaC.AnratherJ. (2011). The immunology of stroke: from mechanisms to translation. Nat. Med.17, 796–808. 10.1038/nm.2399
35
ItoD.TanakaK.SuzukiS.DemboT.FukuuchiY. (2001). Enhanced expression of Iba1, ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1, after transient focal cerebral ischemia in rat brain. Stroke32, 1208–1215. 10.1161/01.str.32.5.1208
36
JicklingG. C.LiuD.AnderB. P.StamovaB.ZhanX.SharpF. R. (2015). Targeting neutrophils in ischemic stroke: translational insights from experimental studies. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.35, 888–901. 10.1038/jcbfm.2015.45
37
JinY.SilvermanA. J.VannucciS. J. (2009). Mast cells are early responders after hypoxia-ischemia in immature rat brain. Stroke40, 3107–3112. 10.1161/strokeaha.109.549691
38
KnowlandD.AracA.SekiguchiK. J.HsuM.LutzS. E.PerrinoJ.et al. (2014). Stepwise recruitment of transcellular and paracellular pathways underlies blood-brain barrier breakdown in stroke. Neuron82, 603–617. 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.03.003
39
KwongB.RuaR.GaoY.FlickingerJ.Jr.WangY.KruhlakM. J.et al. (2017). T-bet-dependent NKp46+ innate lymphoid cells regulate the onset of TH17-induced neuroinflammation. Nat. Immunol.18, 1117–1127. 10.1038/ni.3816
40
LambertsenK. L.ClausenB. H.BabcockA. A.GregersenR.FengerC.NielsenH. H.et al. (2009). Microglia protect neurons against ischemia by synthesis of tumor necrosis factor. J. Neurosci.29, 1319–1330. 10.1523/jneurosci.5505-08.2009
41
LambertsenK. L.FinsenB.ClausenB. H. (2018). Post-stroke inflammation-target or tool for therapy?Acta Neuropathol. [Epub ahead of print]. 10.1007/s00401-018-1930-z
42
LambertsenK. L.MeldgaardM.LadebyR.FinsenB. (2005). A quantitative study of microglial-macrophage synthesis of tumor necrosis factor during acute and late focal cerebral ischemia in mice. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.25, 119–135. 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600014
43
LieszA.KarcherS.VeltkampR. (2013a). Spectratype analysis of clonal T cell expansion in murine experimental stroke. J. Neuroimmunol.257, 46–52. 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2013.01.013
44
LieszA.ZhouW.NaS. Y.HammerlingG. J.GarbiN.KarcherS.et al. (2013b). Boosting regulatory T cells limits neuroinflammation in permanent cortical stroke. J. Neurosci.33, 17350–17362. 10.1523/jneurosci.4901-12.2013
45
LieszA.SunL.ZhouW.SchwartingS.MracskoE.ZornM.et al. (2011a). FTY720 reduces post-ischemic brain lymphocyte influx but does not improve outcome in permanent murine cerebral ischemia. PLoS One6:e21312. 10.1371/journal.pone.0021312
46
LieszA.ZhouW.MracskoE.KarcherS.BauerH.SchwartingS.et al. (2011b). Inhibition of lymphocyte trafficking shields the brain against deleterious neuroinflammation after stroke. Brain134, 704–720. 10.1093/brain/awr008
47
LieszA.Suri-PayerE.VeltkampC.DoerrH.SommerC.RivestS.et al. (2009). Regulatory T cells are key cerebroprotective immunomodulators in acute experimental stroke. Nat. Med.15, 192–199. 10.1038/nm.1927
48
LillaJ. N.ChenC. C.MukaiK.BenBarakM. J.FrancoC. B.KalesnikoffJ.et al. (2011). Reduced mast cell and basophil numbers and function in Cpa3-Cre; Mcl-1fl/fl mice. Blood118, 6930–6938. 10.1182/blood-2011-03-343962
49
LindsbergP. J.StrbianD.Karjalainen-LindsbergM. L. (2010). Mast cells as early responders in the regulation of acute blood-brain barrier changes after cerebral ischemia and hemorrhage. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.30, 689–702. 10.1038/jcbfm.2009.282
50
LouveauA.FilianoA. J.KipnisJ. (2018a). Meningeal whole mount preparation and characterization of neural cells by flow cytometry. Curr. Protoc. Immunol.121:e50. 10.1002/cpim.50
51
LouveauA.HerzJ.AlmeM. N.SalvadorA. F.DongM. Q.ViarK. E.et al. (2018b). CNS lymphatic drainage and neuroinflammation are regulated by meningeal lymphatic vasculature. Nat. Neurosci.21, 1380–1391. 10.1038/s41593-018-0227-9
52
LouveauA.HarrisT. H.KipnisJ. (2015a). Revisiting the mechanisms of CNS immune privilege. Trends Immunol.36, 569–577. 10.1016/j.it.2015.08.006
53
LouveauA.SmirnovI.KeyesT. J.EcclesJ. D.RouhaniS. J.PeskeJ. D.et al. (2015b). Structural and functional features of central nervous system lymphatic vessels. Nature523, 337–341. 10.1038/nature14432
54
MacrezR.AliC.ToutiraisO.Le MauffB.DeferG.DirnaglU.et al. (2011). Stroke and the immune system: from pathophysiology to new therapeutic strategies. Lancet Neurol.10, 471–480. 10.1016/s1474-4422(11)70066-7
55
MattilaO. S.StrbianD.SaksiJ.PikkarainenT. O.RantanenV.TatlisumakT.et al. (2011). Cerebral mast cells mediate blood-brain barrier disruption in acute experimental ischemic stroke through perivascular gelatinase activation. Stroke42, 3600–3605. 10.1161/strokeaha.111.632224
56
McCombeP. A.ReadS. J. (2008). Immune and inflammatory responses to stroke: good or bad?Int. J. Stroke3, 254–265. 10.1111/j.1747-4949.2008.00222.x
57
McKittrickC. M.LawrenceC. E.CarswellH. V. (2015). Mast cells promote blood brain barrier breakdown and neutrophil infiltration in a mouse model of focal cerebral ischemia. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.35, 638–647. 10.1038/jcbfm.2014.239
58
MetzM.PiliponskyA. M.ChenC. C.LammelV.AbrinkM.PejlerG.et al. (2006). Mast cells can enhance resistance to snake and honeybee venoms. Science313, 526–530. 10.1126/science.1128877
59
MoskowitzM. A.LoE. H.IadecolaC. (2010). The science of stroke: mechanisms in search of treatments. Neuron67, 181–198. 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.07.002
60
MracskoE.LieszA.StojanovicA.LouW. P.OsswaldM.ZhouW.et al. (2014). Antigen dependently activated cluster of differentiation 8-positive T cells cause perforin-mediated neurotoxicity in experimental stroke. J. Neurosci.34, 16784–16795. 10.1523/jneurosci.1867-14.2014
61
MukaiK.TsaiM.SaitoH.GalliS. J. (2018). Mast cells as sources of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. Immunol. Rev.282, 121–150. 10.1111/imr.12634
62
NaS. Y.MracskoE.LieszA.HunigT.VeltkampR. (2015). Amplification of regulatory T cells using a CD28 superagonist reduces brain damage after ischemic stroke in mice. Stroke46, 212–220. 10.1161/strokeaha.114.007756
63
NakanoT.SonodaT.HayashiC.YamatodaniA.KanayamaY.YamamuraT.et al. (1985). Fate of bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells after intracutaneous, intraperitoneal and intravenous transfer into genetically mast cell-deficient W/Wv mice. Evidence that cultured mast cells can give rise to both connective tissue type and mucosal mast cells. J. Exp. Med.162, 1025–1043. 10.1084/jem.162.3.1025
64
NeherJ. J.EmmrichJ. V.FrickerM.ManderP. K.TheryC.BrownG. C. (2013). Phagocytosis executes delayed neuronal death after focal brain ischemia. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A110, E4098–E4107. 10.1073/pnas.1308679110
65
NeumannH.KotterM. R.FranklinR. J. (2009). Debris clearance by microglia: an essential link between degeneration and regeneration. Brain132, 288–295. 10.1093/brain/awn109
66
NeumannJ.Riek-BurchardtM.HerzJ.DoeppnerT. R.KönigR.HüttenH.et al. (2015). Very-late-antigen-4 (VLA-4)-mediated brain invasion by neutrophils leads to interactions with microglia, increased ischemic injury and impaired behavior in experimental stroke. Acta Neuropathol.129, 259–277. 10.1007/s00401-014-1355-2
67
NogueiraR. G.JadhavA. P.HaussenD. C.BonafeA.BudzikR. F.BhuvaP.et al. (2018). Thrombectomy 6 to 24 hours after stroke with a mismatch between deficit and infarct. N. Engl. J. Med.378, 11–21. 10.1056/NEJMoa1706442
68
OcakU.OcakP. E.WangA.ZhangJ. H.BolingW.WuP.et al. (2018). Targeting mast cell as a neuroprotective strategy. Brain Inj. [Epub ahead of print]. 10.1080/02699052.2018.1556807
69
OkaT.KalesnikoffJ.StarklP.TsaiM.GalliS. J. (2012). Evidence questioning cromolyn’s effectiveness and selectivity as a ‘mast cell stabilizer’ in mice. Lab. Invest.92, 1472–1482. 10.1038/labinvest.2012.116
70
OtsukaA.KuboM.HondaT.EgawaG.NakajimaS.TanizakiH.et al. (2011). Requirement of interaction between mast cells and skin dendritic cells to establish contact hypersensitivity. PLoS One6:e25538. 10.1371/journal.pone.0025538
71
PeregoC.FumagalliS.De SimoniM. G. (2011). Temporal pattern of expression and colocalization of microglia/macrophage phenotype markers following brain ischemic injury in mice. J. Neuroinflammation8:174. 10.1186/1742-2094-8-174
72
Perez-de-PuigI.Miró-MurF.Ferrer-FerrerM.GelpiE.PedragosaJ.JusticiaC.et al. (2015). Neutrophil recruitment to the brain in mouse and human ischemic stroke. Acta Neuropathol.129, 239–257. 10.1007/s00401-014-1381-0
73
RayasamA.HsuM.KijakJ. A.KisselL.HernandezG.SandorM.et al. (2018). Immune responses in stroke: how the immune system contributes to damage and healing after stroke and how this knowledge could be translated to better cures?Immunology154, 363–376. 10.1111/imm.12918
74
ReberL. L.MarichalT.SokoloveJ.StarklP.GaudenzioN.IwakuraY.et al. (2014). Contribution of mast cell-derived interleukin-1β to uric acid crystal-induced acute arthritis in mice. Arthritis Rheumatol.66, 2881–2891. 10.1002/art.38747
75
RenX.AkiyoshiK.DziennisS.VandenbarkA. A.HersonP. S.HurnP. D.et al. (2011). Regulatory B cells limit CNS inflammation and neurologic deficits in murine experimental stroke. J. Neurosci.31, 8556–8563. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1623-11.2011
76
RuaR.McGavernD. B. (2018). Advances in meningeal immunity. Trends Mol. Med.24, 542–559. 10.1016/j.molmed.2018.04.003
77
SayedB. A.ChristyA. L.WalkerM. E.BrownM. A. (2010). Meningeal mast cells affect early T cell central nervous system infiltration and blood-brain barrier integrity through TNF: a role for neutrophil recruitment?J. Immunol.184, 6891–6900. 10.4049/jimmunol.1000126
78
SchäferB.PiliponskyA. M.OkaT.SongC. H.GerardN. P.GerardC.et al. (2013). Mast cell anaphylatoxin receptor expression can enhance IgE-dependent skin inflammation in mice. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol.131, 541.e9–548.e9. 10.1016/j.jaci.2012.05.009
79
SchemannM.KuglerE. M.BuhnerS.EastwoodC.DonovanJ.JiangW.et al. (2012). The mast cell degranulator compound 48/80 directly activates neurons. PLoS One7:e52104. 10.1371/journal.pone.0052104
80
SchmidtA.StreckerJ. K.HuckeS.BruckmannN. M.HeroldM.MackM.et al. (2017). Targeting different monocyte/macrophage subsets has no impact on outcome in experimental stroke. Stroke48, 1061–1069. 10.1161/strokeaha.116.015577
81
SchuhmannM. K.KraftP.StollG.LorenzK.MeuthS. G.WiendlH.et al. (2015). CD28 superagonist-mediated boost of regulatory T cells increases thrombo-inflammation and ischemic neurodegeneration during the acute phase of experimental stroke. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.35, 6–10. 10.1038/jcbfm.2014.175
82
SchuhmannM. K.LanghauserF.KraftP.KleinschnitzC. (2017). B cells do not have a major pathophysiologic role in acute ischemic stroke in mice. J. Neuroinflammation14:112. 10.1186/s12974-017-0890-x
83
ShechterR.LondonA.SchwartzM. (2013). Orchestrated leukocyte recruitment to immune-privileged sites: absolute barriers versus educational gates. Nat. Rev. Immunol.13, 206–218. 10.1038/nri3391
84
ShichitaT.SugiyamaY.OoboshiH.SugimoriH.NakagawaR.TakadaI.et al. (2009). Pivotal role of cerebral interleukin-17-producing γδT cells in the delayed phase of ischemic brain injury. Nat. Med.15, 946–950. 10.1038/nm.1999
85
StrbianD.Karjalainen-LindsbergM. L.KovanenP. T.TatlisumakT.LindsbergP. J. (2007). Mast cell stabilization reduces hemorrhage formation and mortality after administration of thrombolytics in experimental ischemic stroke. Circulation116, 411–418. 10.1161/circulationaha.106.655423
86
StrbianD.Karjalainen-LindsbergM. L.TatlisumakT.LindsbergP. J. (2006). Cerebral mast cells regulate early ischemic brain swelling and neutrophil accumulation. J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.26, 605–612. 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600228
87
SupajaturaV.UshioH.NakaoA.AkiraS.OkumuraK.RaC.et al. (2002). Differential responses of mast cell Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 in allergy and innate immunity. J. Clin. Invest.109, 1351–1359. 10.1172/jci0214704
88
TsaiM.GrimbaldestonM.GalliS. J. (2011). Mast cells and immunoregulation/immunomodulation. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol.716, 186–211. 10.1007/978-1-4419-9533-9_11
89
TsuyamaJ.NakamuraA.OoboshiH.YoshimuraA.ShichitaT. (2018). Pivotal role of innate myeloid cells in cerebral post-ischemic sterile inflammation. Semin. Immunopathol.40, 523–538. 10.1007/s00281-018-0707-8
90
VaratharajA.MackJ.DavidsonJ. R.GutnikovA.SquierW. (2012). Mast cells in the human dura: effects of age and dural bleeding. Childs Nerv. Syst.28, 541–545. 10.1007/s00381-012-1699-7
91
WattananitS.TorneroD.GraubardtN.MemanishviliT.MonniE.TatarishviliJ.et al. (2016). Monocyte-derived macrophages contribute to spontaneous long-term functional recovery after stroke in mice. J. Neurosci.36, 4182–4195. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4317-15.2016
92
YilmazG.ArumugamT. V.StokesK. Y.GrangerD. N. (2006). Role of T lymphocytes and interferon-γ in ischemic stroke. Circulation113, 2105–2112. 10.1161/circulationaha.105.593046
93
YuM.TsaiM.TamS. Y.JonesC.ZehnderJ.GalliS. J. (2006). Mast cells can promote the development of multiple features of chronic asthma in mice. J. Clin. Invest.116, 1633–1641. 10.1172/jci25702
Summary
Keywords
meninges, mast cells, ischemic stroke, meningeal mast cells, stroke pathology
Citation
Arac A, Grimbaldeston MA, Galli SJ, Bliss TM and Steinberg GK (2019) Meningeal Mast Cells as Key Effectors of Stroke Pathology. Front. Cell. Neurosci. 13:126. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00126
Received
30 January 2019
Accepted
13 March 2019
Published
03 April 2019
Volume
13 - 2019
Edited by
Kalpna Gupta, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, United States
Reviewed by
Kempuraj Duraisamy, University of Missouri, United States; Ilkka Harvima, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Updates

Check for updates
Copyright
© 2019 Arac, Grimbaldeston, Galli, Bliss and Steinberg.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Gary K. Steinberg gsteinberg@stanford.edu
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.