In vivo imaging of micronuclei incorporation by microglia
Description
Microglia-resident immune cells in the central nervous system-undergomorphological and functional changes in response to signals from thelocal environment and mature into various homeostatic states. However, niche signals underlying microglial differentiation and maturationremain unknown. Here, the authors show that neuronal micronuclei (MN) transfer to microglia, which is followed by changing microglial characteristics during the postnatal period. Neurons passing through a dense region of the developing neocortex give rise to MN and release them into the extracellular space, before being incorporated into microglia and inducing morphological changes. Two-photon imaging analyses have revealed that microglia incorporating MN tend to slowly retract their processes. Loss of the cGAS gene alleviates effects on micronucleus-dependent morphological changes. Neuronal MN-harboring microglia also exhibit unique transcriptome signatures. These results demonstrate that neuronal MN serve as niche signals that transform microglia, and provide a potential mechanism for regulation of microglial characteristics in the early postnatal neocortex.
Release date
2026-07-07
Updated date
-
License
CC BY 4.0
Kind
Image data
based on Experiment
Number of Datasets
9
( Image datasets: 9,
Quantitative data datasets: 0 )