Activated microglia is associated with neurodegenerative processes, but the precise role of this cell population is difficult to identify. Most experimental models employed to examine microglial responses involve acute alterations of neuronal integrity, in contrast to the progressive nature of neurodegenerative diseases. In order to approach the clinical situation better, the microglial response was analyzed in the murine mutant Wobbler, which exhibits a well-characterized neurodegenerative pathology, manifested by motoneuronal death following a period of cellular dysfunction with characteristic morphological features. Microglial cells were identified using anti-Mac1 or anti-IgG antibodies. Examination of the changes in density, localization, and phenotype of microglia differentiated two types of responses in Wobblers. A first type of response was observed as early as in the third week after birth, when the only apparent neuronal defect was the morphological alteration of a subset of motoneurons in the cervical spinal cord, which was maintained later on. The activated microglia extended long processes that selectively ensheathed vacuolated motoneurons. At later stages, when motoneuron death became prominent, an additional type of response was characterized by an increased density of reactive microglia that was seen extending throughout the cervical enlargement. This secondary microglial response occurred in parallel to the infiltration of T-lymphocytes. Thus, these results point to a differential response of microglial cells to a progressive neurodegenerative process.

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À la croisée des principes fondamentaux de l’architecture et de l’étude des imaginaires nichés au cœur des œuvres de fiction, ce texte vise le futur des conditions de l’habiter. Adoptant une perspective historique, le dialogue organisé entre domestication technologique et domesticité numérique pose les cadres éthiques de ce futur possible. L’intelligence de la maison comme une réalité intrinsèque possiblement garantie par le seul acte d’architecture est proposée. Elle est confrontée ensuite à l’impact de l’interface homme/machine sur l’environnement physique de la maison. Un troisième point sonde les incidences de la montée en technologie pour l’habitant qui vient, l’habiter et plus globalement l’humanisme encouragé.

This paper deals with the political dimension of the urban public space. It examines the political meaning of a contemporary statuary. The research carried out in Montpellier (France) deals with three public spaces which gather most of the contemporary statues. We explore the emblematic images (or images of images) of universal, real or mythical characters as several arguments in order to overhaul a new political order in and by the urban public space. This order is read in the perspective of an historical assertion of the territorial identity of the city of Montpellier. We use some aspects of the semiotic triad (icon, index, symbol) of Charles Peirce's theory of signs. First, we consider the new mesh size of the urban public space, which is understood as the expression of a territorial personal foresight, thought by Georges Frêche, former mayor of Montpellier. Then, the obsolete civic imagery is reformulated by valuing a social imagery which takes part in an historical urban rhetoric. A triple dimensioning of the historical path of Montpellier is identified: it appears as Mediterranean, revolutionary and global. Finally, in line with the critical urban geography developed, it results in three political effects of the statuary: the first formulates new principles for public-spiritedness and civility through the citadinity; secondly, in a form of paradox, these statues tell a story about the future of the city; last, it shows how a political leader makes space a political one.

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