Cited by 271Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsNeurological Disease Mechanisms and TreatmentsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Elimination of Microglia Improves Functional Outcomes Following Extensive Neuronal Loss in the Hippocampus

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Abstract

With severe injury or disease, microglia become chronically activated and damage the local brain environment, likely contributing to cognitive decline. We previously discovered that microglia are dependent on colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) signaling for survival in the healthy adult brain, and we have exploited this dependence to determine whether such activated microglia contribute deleteriously to functional recovery following a neuronal lesion. Here, we induced a hippocampal lesion in mice for 25 d via neuronal expression of diphtheria toxin A-chain, producing both a neuroinflammatory reaction and behavioral alterations. Following the 25 d lesion, we administered PLX3397, a CSF1R inhibitor, for 30 d to eliminate microglia. This post-lesion treatment paradigm improved functional recovery on elevated plus maze and Morris water maze, concomitant with reductions in elevated proinflammatory molecules, as well as normalization of lesion-induced alterations in synaptophysin and PSD-95. Further exploration of the effects of microglia on synapses in a second cohort of mice revealed that dendritic spine densities are increased with long-term microglial elimination, providing evidence that microglia shape the synaptic landscape in the adult mouse brain. Furthermore, in these same animals, we determined that microglia play a protective role during lesioning, whereby neuronal loss was potentiated in the absence of these cells. Collectively, we demonstrate that microglia exert beneficial effects during a diphtheria toxin-induced neuronal lesion, but impede recovery following insult. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: It remains unknown to what degree, and by what mechanisms, chronically activated microglia contribute to cognitive deficits associated with brain insults. We induced a genetic neuronal lesion in mice for 25 d and found activated microglia to increase inflammation, alter synaptic surrogates, and impede behavioral recovery. These lesion-associated deficits were ameliorated with subsequent microglial elimination, underscoring the importance of developing therapeutics aimed at eliminating/modulating chronic microglial activation. Additionally, we found long-term microglial depletion globally increases dendritic spines by ∼35% in the adult brain, indicating that microglia continue to sculpt the synaptic landscape in the postdevelopmental brain under homeostatic conditions. Microglial manipulation can therefore be used to investigate the utility of increasing dendritic spine numbers in postnatal conditions displaying synaptic aberrations.

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Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.0336-15.2015

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Authors
Rice, R. A., Spangenberg, E. E., Yamate-Morgan, H., Lee, R. J., Arora, R. P. S., Hernandez, M. X., Tenner, A. J., West, B. L., & Green, K. N.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Irvine (US)
  • Plexxikon (United States) (US)
Venue
Journal of Neuroscience
Published
2015-07-08
Volume
35
Issue
27
Pages
9977-9989
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
OpenAlex
W1920357305
Cited by
270
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 2
FWCI
9.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Alzheimer's Association
  • Whitehall Foundation
  • Plexxikon
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001414, AG016573, AG00538, AG000096)
  • National Institute on Aging (P01AG000538, AG-016573, AG 00538, AG000096, PPG AG 00538, P50AG016573, T32AG000096)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (F31NS086409, R01NS083801)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
microglia, CSF1R inhibition, PLX3397, hippocampal lesions, neuronal loss, neuroinflammation, cognitive recovery, dendritic spines, synaptic plasticity, PSD-95, synaptophysin, diphtheria toxin A chain
MeSH terms
Aminopyridines, Animals, Behavioral Symptoms, Blood-Brain Barrier, Brain Injuries, Cognition Disorders, Disease Models, Animal, Doxycycline, Female, Hippocampus, Male, Mice, Transgenic, Neurons, Phosphopyruvate Hydratase, Pyrroles, Synaptophysin, Microglia, Maze Learning, Recovery of Function, Dendritic Spines, Mice

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