Infusion of angiotensin II or aldosterone promotes immune cell infiltration in the brain
Angiotensin II infusion caused a marked increase in systolic blood pressure (by ~40 mmHg, Figure 1A). Elevation of blood pressure had no effect on the number of microglia (Figure 1C), but there was accumulation of circulating CD45+ leukocytes (Figures 1B and 1D; gating strategy for other leukocytes are shown in the Supplementary Figure 1), specifically T cells (Figures 1E and 1F), myeloid cells (Figure 1G), neutrophils (Figure 1H), monocytes (Figure 1I and 1J) and B cells (Figure 1L) in the brain. There was also a tendency for more macrophages (Figure 1K; P =0.15). Similarly, aldosterone infusion caused elevation of systolic blood pressure (by ~20 mmHg, Figure 2A), without affecting the number of microglia (Figure 2C). Furthermore, aldosterone also promoted accumulation of leukocytes (Figures 2B and 2D), including T cells (Figures 2E and 2F), myeloid cells (Figure 2G) and macrophages (Figure 2H) in the brain.