Exosome reporter mice reveal the involvement of exosomes in mediating neuron to astroglia communication in the CNS.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31515491.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11534-w and PMC identifier 6742670.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Astroglia play active and diverse roles in modulating neuronal/synaptic functions in the CNS. How these astroglial functions are regulated, especially by neuronal signals, remains largely unknown. Exosomes, a major type of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that originate from endosomal intraluminal vesicles (ILVs), have emerged as a new intercellular communication process. By generating cell-type-specific ILVs/exosome reporter (CD63-GFP<sup>f/f</sup>) mice and immuno-EM/confocal image analysis, we found that neuronal CD63-GFP<sup>+</sup> ILVs are primarily localized in soma and dendrites, but not in axonal terminals in vitro and in vivo. Secreted neuronal exosomes contain a subset of microRNAs (miRs) that is distinct from the miR profile of neurons. These miRs, especially the neuron-specific miR-124-3p, are potentially internalized into astrocytes. MiR-124-3p further up-regulates the predominant glutamate transporter GLT1 by suppressing GLT1-inhibiting miRs. Our findings suggest a previously undescribed neuronal exosomal miR-mediated genetic regulation of astrocyte functions, potentially opening a new frontier in understanding CNS intercellular communication.
Medical subject headings
- Astrocytes
- Cell Communication
- Central Nervous System
- Exosomes
- Genes, Reporter
- Neurons