Summy-Long JY, Hu S. Peripheral osmotic stimulation inhibits the brain's innate immune response to microdialysis of acidic perfusion fluid adjacent to supraoptic nucleus. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 297: R1532-R1545, 2009. First published September 16, 2009 doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00340.2009.-During the brain's innate immune response microglia, astroglia and ependymal cells resolve/repair damaged tissue and control infection. Released interleukin-1 (IL-1) reaching cerebroventricles stimulates circumventricular organs (CVOs; subfornical organ, SFO; organum vasculosum lamina terminalis, OVLT), the median preoptic nucleus (MePO), and magnocellular and parvocellular neurons in the supraoptic (SON) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei. Hypertonic saline (HS) also activates these osmosensory CVOs and neuroendocrine systems, but, in contrast to IL-1, inhibits the peripheral immune response. To examine whether the brain's innate immune response is attenuated by osmotic stimulation, sterile acidic perfusion fluid was microdialyzed (2 l/ min) in the SON area of conscious rats for 6 h with sterile HS (1.5 M NaCl) injected subcutaneously (15 ml/kg) at 5 h. ϩ ; amoeboid/hypertrophied; IL-1 ϩ ) in the adjacent SON and bilaterally in perivascular areas of the PVN, periventricular hypothalamus and ependyma, coincident with c-Fos expression in ependymal cells and COX-2 in the vasculature. These microglial responses were attenuated by HS, coincident with activating parvocellular and magnocellular neuroendocrine systems and elevating circulating IL-1, oxytocin, and vasopressin. Acidosis-induced cellular injury from microdialysis activated the brain's innate immune response by a mechanism inhibited by peripheral osmotic stimulation. hypertonic saline; interleukin-1; acidosis; magnocellular neurons; c-Fos MICRODIALYSIS OF BRAIN NUCLEAR sites is used widely to monitor endogenous neural activity (28) and, more selectively, the central release of oxytocin and vasopressin from dendrites and somas of magnocellular neurons in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) spatially separated from their axon terminals in the neural lobe (68,73). Using this method in conscious rats, we found previously that basal release of interleukin-1 (IL-1) into dialysates (121) of the SON area increased in response to osmotic stimulation (106). Originally, the present immunohistochemical study was designed to identify local cellular sources of the cytokine (IL-1 ϩ ) and its biologic targets expressing the IL-1 type 1 receptor (IL-1R; 101) and having cyclooxygenase (COX-2) (65) or c-Fos induced by the cytokine (32, 60, 62). Our attention, however, widened to include the brain's innate immune response when our microdialysis studies showed activation of microglia in the SON (106).Like other tissues, an innate immune system in the brain responds to injury, protecting against infection and repairing damage in an effort to restore function (74, 87). Largely excluded from circulating blood cells and the peripheral immune system, the brain relies on glia and epend...