Microglia are the source of the resident macrophages of the brain and thus belong to one of the most reactive cell types in cerebral tissue. They are attributed to have an important role in a number of pathological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, viral infections like AIDS, and in lethal or sublethal injuries of neurons where the blood-brain barrier is left intact (Streit et al., 1988; McGeer et al., 1988; Gendelman et al., 1989). Microglia share a number of macrophage characteristics but so far lack a distinguishing positive marker. In this study it is shown that microglia are distinguished from other macrophages by a unique pattern of ion channels. We compared membrane currents of microglial cells with those from peritoneal macrophages cultured under identical conditions. Although in macrophages a delayed outward K+ current was previously described (Randriamampita and Trautmann, 1987), microglial cells lacked any specific outward current. Instead, these cells were characterized by large inwardly rectifying currents, activated by hyperpolarizing voltage steps. The reversal potential in different K+ gradients and the sensitivity of the current to to Ba2+, TEA, and 4-AP indicates that this current is K+ selective. In single-channel recordings, a 30 pS K+ selective channel similar to the classical inward rectifier K+ channel was observed. Thus, the expression of membrane channels served not only to distinguish microglia from other cells inside and outside the brain, e.g., blood macrophages, but also suggests a unique functional state of this cell population.

The framework of the root system of a mature, field-grown corn plant of variety Seneca Chief consists of about 70 axile roots. One of these is the primary root. The others develop on the stem, a single tier at each of the seven basal nodes. Just over half of these roots grow out at or above ground level from nodes 6 and 7 late in the development of the plant, with those of node 7 entering the soil just before flowering. The mean diameter of the root produced at successively higher nodes increases, as does also the mean number of large metaxylem elements seen in a cross section, so that about 75% of the large xylem conduits between the root system and the stem are in the roots of the two uppermost tiers. Nodal root primordia develop initially in situ from an extensive region of dedifferentiated stem cortex. A sleeve-like extension of the stem encloses the base of each root formed at aerial nodes. At each node the complexity of vascular interconnections results in all of the framework roots being indirectly linked to each other and to the vascular traces from all of the leaves.

Rat microglia share a number of antigenic, functional, and morphological similarities with macrophages from other tissues, but are characterized by a distinctly different pattern of ion channels in the cellular membrane (Kettenmann et al., J Neurosci Res 26:278-287, 1990). Macrophages typically express outward and inward K+ currents. In contrast, microglia lack outward currents and only show inwardly rectifying K+ currents, regardless of the isolation or cultivation method employed for microglia. In this study we demonstrate that a subpopulation of bone marrow-derived macrophage-like cells possesses inward rectifier K+ currents, but no outward currents and thus with regard to the electrophysiological characteristics closely resembles microglia. A second population of bone marrow-derived macrophage-like cells shows the usual channel pattern described for other body macrophages. Our results strengthen the hypothesis that in the bone marrow distinct pools of precursor cells exist, possibly reflecting an early differential lineage determination for body and brain macrophages, i.e., microglia.

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We analyzed the pH dependence of K+ currents recorded with the patch-clamp technique from cultured Schwann cells obtained from mouse dorsal root ganglia. Currents were activated at potentials more positive than -50 mV which was close to the resting membrane potential. Current amplitudes were affected by a change in extracellular pH (pHo), being increased at alkaline, and decreased at acidic pHo. The strongest effect of a pHo change was observed on currents activated close to the resting membrane potential suggesting a functional role for the pH sensitivity of K+ currents. Analysis of the time course of current activation at different pHo values led to the conclusion that the pH-sensitivity of K+ currents in Schwann cells is due to changes in surface charges shifting the potential sensed by the gating process of the channel. The reversal potential of the currents was not affected by a change in pHo. This observation and the finding that even a strong acidification to a pHo value of 5.0 did not lead to a blockade of the fully activated channel, indicate that the pH-sensitive charges are not located in the channel pore. Under the assumption that pHo changes in a peripheral nerve are associated with nerve activity as in the optic nerve, the pH-sensitive K+ channel in Schwann cells could serve to facilitate the spatial buffering of extracellular K+.