Light-induced engagement of microglia to focally remodel synapses in the adult brain.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32808923.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.58435 and PMC identifier 7470825.
- 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
Microglia continuously monitor synapses, but active synaptic remodeling by microglia in mature healthy brains is rarely directly observed. We performed targeted photoablation of single synapses in mature transgenic mice expressing fluorescent labels in neurons and microglia. The photodamage focally increased the duration of microglia-neuron contacts, and dramatically exacerbated both the turnover of dendritic spines and presynaptic boutons as well as the generation of new filopodia originating from spine heads or boutons. The results of microglia depletion confirmed that elevated spine turnover and the generation of presynaptic filopodia are microglia-dependent processes.
Medical subject headings
- Microglia
- Neuronal Plasticity
- Synapses