Study Design
This study used five animal treatment groups: Wild-type naïve (no GMH injury and no treatment), Sham (endotoxin free PBS injection in the SVZ in place of collagenase and no treatment), Vehicle (collagenase injection in the SVZ and intraperitoneal (ip) PBS treatment), and Psel-Crry treated (collagenase injection in the SVZ and ip treatment of either 2.12Psel-Crry or 2.3Psel-Crry). Prior to surgical procedures for GMH induction, animal breeders were randomly assigned to groups. Randomization was performed by an external lab member and was dependent on liter sizes at post-natal day 1 (P1) of life in order to accommodate adequate numbers across groups. All GMH injuries were performed by guided injection of collagenase into the subventricular zone (SVZ) on post-natal day 4 (P4) as previously described [5]. For testing, scorer was blinded to group allocations. Following injection, pups were placed on a heating pad for 30 minutes and then reunited with the mother. The total handling time of pups away from the mother was approximately 45 minutes. Animals were then monitored for an additional 60 minutes to ensure care of the pups by the mother. Animals were excluded if they died within 24 hours of surgery (< 10% of animals). Study endpoints were P14 (10 days post-injury) for acute outcome analyses, including histology and behavioral testing, P30 for MRI analysis, and P45 for analysis of animal survival and for behavioral tasks.
Animal Husbandry and Care
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at the Medical University of South Carolina approved all animal procedures. Wild-type male and female C57Bl/J mice (Jackson Laboratory, ME, USA) were obtained at age P30 and acclimatized for 1 week. Animals were then mated in pairs. Cages were cleaned weekly and new bedding provided. All mice housed in the facility were exposed to 12 hours light/dark cycles and received access to food and water ad libitum, while pregnant females received a high fat diet as recommended by the institutional veterinarian. All tests and experiments were conducted during the light cycle. Pregnancy and litter checks were performed daily. Males were separated to another cage on day of pup injury due to propensity of male mice to kill injured offspring. All animals were returned to the mouse housing facility following procedures and tests.
Construction, Expression, and In Vitro Characterization of Recombinant Proteins
2.3Psel-Crry and 2.12Psel-Crry are recombinant fusion proteins consisting of an anti-P-selectin single chain antibody (scFv) targeting domain linked to the complement inhibitor, Crry. Construction, expression, purification and in vitro characterization of these constructs was described previously [22]. The proteins were stored at -80C, and once thawed stored under sterile conditions at 4C for up to 2 weeks. Before use, binding activity of purified proteins was confirmed by standard ELISA using recombinant mouse P-selectin-Ig (BD Biosciences) as capture antigen and anti-His tag Ab (Clontech) for detection (data not shown). Complement inhibitory activity of constructs was confirmed by flow cytometric analysis of complement deposition in a standard zymosan assay [23].
Treatment Paradigm
Two treatment paradigms were utilized: a sub-acute treatment paradigm (up to P14) and a chronic treatment paradigm (up to P45). For both paradigms, 2.12Psel-Crry, 2.3Psel-Crry or PBS was injected ip on P4 at 1 hour post injury at a dose of 20 mg/kg. For the acute timepoint treatment paradigm, treatments were administered at P4, 7, 10 and 13 for a total of 4 doses. For the chronic treatment paradigm, treatments were administered at P4, 7, 10, and 13 as above, and thereafter weekly up to P41 for a total of 7 doses.
Germinal Matrix Hemorrhage Injury Model And Lesion Grading System
The GMH injury model and lesion grading system utilized was as we previously described [5]. Briefly, Clostridium-derived collagenase (Type VII-S collagenase, C2399-1.5 KU, Sigma-Aldrich) was injected into the SVZ of mouse pups at P4 to induce direct spontaneous non-traumatic vessel rupture with intracerebral hemorrhage in the region of the germinal matrix and SVZ. Sham PBS injections were performed to ensure that hemorrhage was a result of collagenase injection and not from mechanical insertion of the needle or dynamics of a fluid injection. The animal-specific injury grading system was used that established a distinction between parenchymal injury, ventricular involvement, and PHH. The grading system has been described [5], and is as follows: 0 = No lesion or ventricular enlargement; 1 = Lesion volume < 30% of hemispheric cortical tissue ipsilateral to injury site without ventricular involvement; 2 = Lesion volume > 30% of hemispheric cortical tissue ipsilateral to injury site without ventricular involvement; 3 = Lesion extending into the ipsilateral ventricle with no ventricular enlargement; 4 = Lesion extending into the ipsilateral ventricle coupled with unilateral ventriculomegaly; 5 = Lesion extending into both ventricles resulting in bilateral ventriculomegaly (global hydrocephalus).
Behavioral Tests
Nesting Building
Nest building task was performed at P40 as previously described [24]. Briefly, test mice were singly housed, and a new nestlet introduced to the cage 1 hr before the active phase (dark phase). The next morning, the remaining compacted cotton from the nestlet was weighed (untorn nestlet), and the nests scored on a rating scale of 1–5 in a blinded fashion. A well-structured nest is scored 5 and failure to disturb the nestlet is scored 1.
Elevated Plus Maze
Mice were introduced in the center of the elevated plus maze (Stoelting #60140) in white light (100 lux) and recorded for 5 minutes using ANY-maze behavior tracking software (Stoelting) with center-point detection. Testing was performed at P42. Data are reported as the percent of time spent in the open areas.
Fear-Conditioning
Fear conditioning was performed as previously described [25]. Training was performed at P44 and testing at P45. Briefly, test mice were placed in a fear conditioning chamber (MedAssociates) and allowed to explore the arena for 3 min, after which a loud auditory stimulus (30 s; 90dB) that co-terminates with a 2 s mild foot-shock (0.5 mA) is presented to the animal. This is repeated twice, with a 1 min interval separating the tones/shocks. After 24 hr, animals are returned to the chamber, and mouse behavior (moments of freezing and moving) when exposed to the same environment (contextual fear-conditioning) and when exposed to a new environment where the audible tone is played, is recorded by a video-tracking system (Video Freeze V2.6; MedAssociates). Data are presented as percent of time the mouse is immobile.
Ultrasonic Vocalization (USV) Recordings
Distress USVs were recorded from juvenile mice as previously described [26]. Briefly, pups were recorded in a random order in a small, sound-attenuated chamber following separation from dam and littermates. USVs were recorded for 3 min on P5, 7, and 11 using Avisoft UltraSoundGate equipment (UltraSoundGate 116Hb with Condenser Microphone CM16; Avisoft Bioacoustics, Germany). USVs were analyzed using Avisoft SASLab Pro (Avisoft Bioacoustics) using a 20 kHz cutoff.
Tissue Processing And Histological Analyses
Animals in the acute studies were sacrificed at P14. Following euthanasia, cardiac perfusion was performed with cold PBS followed by 4% paraformaldehyde mixed in PBS. Brains were extracted and placed in 4% paraformaldehyde solution overnight at 4°C. The brains were then moved to a new vial with 30% sucrose mixed with 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS. For tissue cutting, the brains were embedded in Tissue-Plus Optimal Cutting Temperature (OCT) compound (23-730-571, Fisher Healthcare) and frozen. Brains were cut in 40 µm coronal sections using a freeze-mount cryostat. Sections from the complete brain were collected in 12-well plates kept in PBS-filled wells until histologic analysis. For Nissl staining, serial brain sections 200 µm apart were mounted on a slide and stained using cresyl violet as previously described [27]. For ventricular and lesion volume measurements, 8 serial Nissl-stained brain sections 200 µm apart and 40 µm thick were used to reconstruct the total lesion volume. 4x magnification images of each slice were acquired using a Keyence BZ-X710 microscope (Keyence Co., Itasca, IL, USA). Lesion and ventricular areas were calculated using NIH ImageJ (FIJI) in a blinded fashion.
Immunofluorescence Staining And Imaging
Mid-ventricular regions were identified by stereometric measurement using a mouse brain atlas, followed by standard immunofluorescent (IF) staining as previously described [9]. All imaging and analysis were performed by lab personnel blinded to experimental samples. For microglia and complement IF staining, high-resolution imaging was performed using a Zeiss LSM 880 confocal microscope (Zeiss, Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC, White Plains, NY, USA) at 40x with water-media overlay and using the Z-stacking feature for Iba1 and C3 staining. Images were deconvoluted and reconstructed in 3D plane using Imaris Microscopy Image Analysis Software. Mean Fluorescent Intensity of 3D reconstructed image was quantified as total voxel number. For microglial morphology analyses and quantification of microglia-internalized complement (C3), high-resolution IF imaging was performed using a Zeiss LSM 880 confocal microscope at 63x with oil overlay and using the Z-stacking feature for Iba1 staining. A representative periventricular region was selected from each brain within naïve, vehicle, and treatment groups – with each region containing approximately 5 full intact microglia per Z-stack image. Individual microglia from 63x confocal images were then processed and analyzed using Imaris Microscopy Image Analysis Software as previously described [28]. For morphological analysis, microglial branch length, number of branches, and number of terminal points were identified on each cell manually and connected using the “FilamentTracer” tool (Imaris). The resultant tracings were used to calculate the total process length, number of processes, and number of terminal branch points. 3D rendering of microglia was achieved using Imaris “Surface” tool alongside the Imaris Labkit Analyses. Following reconstruction of microglia utilizing Channel Masking Technology (described in the Imaris Image Analysis Software instructions reference manual), C3 IF was reconstructed and then overlayed and masked with the reconstructed microglia to image internalized C3. C3 IF was then quantified per microglia as per Imaris Image Analysis Software instructions. For P-selectin analysis, 20x images of each section were acquired using a Keyence BZ-X710 microscope specifically at periventricular, hippocampal, and white matter brain regions. P-selectin was quantified by calculating the total integrated density (product of Area and the average signal intensity per pixel as a Mean Gray Value) using NIH ImageJ. All staining included negative control images (using secondary antibodies only) in order to correct for any underlying auto-fluorescence. Fluorescence-based analysis was performed rather than cell counting due to high cell density and clumping in the proximity of the injury site.
Primary antibodies used for staining were: anti-C3 (Abcam, Cat. #: ab11862, 1:200), anti-Iba1 (Invitrogen, Cat. #: PA5-21274, 1:200), and anti-CD62p (R&D, Cat. #: AF737, 1:200). Secondary antibodies utilized were all donkey and were anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 488 nm (Invitrogen, Cat. #: A-21206, 1:200), anti-rat Alexa Fluor 488 nm (Invitrogen, Cat. #: A-21208, 1:200), anti-rat Alexa Fluor 555 nm (Abcam, Cat. #: ab150154, 1:200), anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 555 nm (Invitrogen, Cat. #: A-31572, 1:200), anti-goat Alexa Fluor 647 nm (Invitrogen, Cat. #: A32849, 1:200).
Tail Clipping Assay
Tail bleed time in P13 C57BL/6J pups was measured 2 hours after their designated final treatment (on P13) of PBS, 2.3Psel-Crry or 2.12Psel-Crry by a procedure previously described [22]. Briefly, pups were anesthetized with ketamine/xylazine mix and were placed in a prone position and a distal 5mm segment of the tail amputated. The tail was immediately immersed in pre-warmed isotonic saline at 37°C and each animal monitored till cessation of bleeding. If bleeding on/off cycles occurred, the sum of bleeding times within the 20-minute period was used.
Flow Cytometry
Blood was collected from P14 mice by cardiac puncture at time of euthanasia in 50mM EDTA containing Futan-75 to prevent complement activation. Collected samples were centrifuged for 10 min at 600g. Supernatant was removed, and pellets resuspended in 1 mL citrate buffer containing 50 ng/mL PGE2 to prevent platelet activation. The resuspended samples were centrifuged for 10 min at 3,200g. Supernatant was then discarded and erythrocytes lysed using ACK buffer (ACK Lysing Buffer, Gibco, ThermoFisher Scientific) for 4 minutes. The samples were then washed with PBS for 10 min at 3,200g. Supernatant was removed and samples containing circulating immune cells and platelets were resuspended in FACS buffer, incubated with anti-FcR antibody (clone 24G2) and stained with the following primary antibodies: Ly6G (clone 1A8), Ly6C (clone AL-21), CD11b (clone M1/70, eBioscience), CD62P (clone RB40.34) and CD41 (clone MWReg30). All antibodies were purchased from BD Pharmingen. After staining samples were washed twice in FACS buffer, fixed for 10 minutes at 4°C in 1% paraformaldehyde, washed and resuspended in FACS buffer. The samples were acquired on a Fortessa X20 (BD Pharmingen) and analyzed with FlowJo software (TreeStar).
Live Animal Fluorescence Tomography
2.3Psel-Crry was labeled with a fluorescent marker (CF dye 92221, Biotium, Fremont, CA, USA) per the manufacturer’s protocol and administered ip to P4 pups at 1 h after injection of collagenase or PBS. Live animal fluorescence tomography (Maestro II PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA, USA) was performed at 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after administration of fluorescently labeled 2.3Psel-Crry. Relative 2.3Psel-Crry brain deposition was quantified by measuring signal intensity within the brain using NIH ImageJ (FIJI) integrated density.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis and data representation was achieved using GraphPad Prism 8.0 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, USA). Details of statistical tests used for different analyses are described in figure legends. All data in the manuscript are represented as mean ± SEM and P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Power sample size estimation was done as previously stated based on prior work from our team and with an acceptable power range of 80–90% [5].