Immunocytochemical localization of CR3 complement receptors with OX-42 in amoeboid microglia in postnatal rats.

The present study described the labelling of amoeboid microglial cells in the postnatal rat brain with OX-42, an antibody that recognizes type 3 complement receptors CR3 in mononuclear phagocytes. Of the diverse morphological forms of amoeboid microglia present in the corpus callosum in early postnatal (2-5 days) rats, cells with a round regular outline, or showing short stout processes, were the most intensely stained. When traced from the main cell colony into the borderline zone with the cortex, the immunoreactivity of amoeboid microglia that assumed a ramified form was drastically reduced. Examination of materials from the late postnatal (8-12 days) age group showed that the majority of the OX-42 positive cells in the corpus callosum became oval, elongated and ramified. Immunoelectron microscopy confirmed the above observations, and also showed that the immunoreactivity in the round amoeboid microglia was localized in their plasma membrane, surface projections and invaginations, as well as in some of the subsurface vacuoles. The immunoreactivity was reduced in the oval cells, and diminished in the elongated or ramified form. It is proposed that the presence of CR3 membrane receptors in amoeboid microglial cells is related to their active role in endocytosis. These, however, diminish with the growth of the brain.