Microglial morphology in the somatosensory cortex across lifespan. A quantitative study

Abstract

Background Microglia are long‐lived cells that constantly monitor their microenvironment. To accomplish this task, they constantly change their morphology both in the short and long term under physiological conditions. This makes the process of quantifying physiological microglial morphology difficult. Results By using a semi‐manual and a semi‐automatic method to assess fine changes in cortical microglia morphology, we were able to quantify microglia changes in number, surveillance and branch tree starting from the fifth postnatal day to 2 years of life. We were able to identify a fluctuating behavior of most analyzed parameters characterized by a rapid cellular maturation, followed by a long period of relative stable morphology during the adult life with a final convergence to an aged phenotype. Detailed cellular arborization analysis revealed age‐induced differences in microglia morphology, with mean branch length and the number of terminal processes changing constantly over time. Conclusions Our study provides insight into microglia morphology changes across lifespan under physiological conditions. We were able to highlight, that due to the dynamic nature of microglia several morphological parameters are needed to establish the physiological state of these cells.

Nanoligomers targeting NF-κB and NLRP3 reduce neuroinflammation and improve cognitive function with aging and tauopathy

“…Indeed, in human aging/AD, glial cells (astrocytes and microglia) become immune-activated, secreting cytokines that impair neuronal and cognitive function [43]. This neuroinflammation is also associated with morphological changes [44, 45], including alterations in process length [46] and branching [47, 48], which have detrimental effects on neurons (e.g., synaptic dysfunction). To evaluate the effects of NF-κB/NLRP3-targeting Nanoligomer treatment on astrocyte and microglia activation/morphology with aging, we performed immunofluorescence staining on cortex tissue from old, old treated, and young mice.…”

Chronic Administration of Ion Channel Blockers Impact Microglia Morphology and Function in a Murine Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that microglia could be susceptible to systemic treatments unrelated to CNS pathologies. With microglia functionality directly linked to their morphology [20,21], solely investigating this aspect of microglia could sometimes be sufficient to detect changes from a homeostatic steady state, as reported in aging animals [22].…”

Getting connected: Pathfinding and synaptogenesis in development, evolution, and disease, Part 2

“…They accomplished this by applying two different kinds of spatial transcriptomics, one with higher spatial resolution and one with deeper transcriptional resolution, with single‐cell sequencing and verifying top candidates with multiplexed fluorescent in situ hybridization. Finally, Godeanu et al 5 demonstrate how analytical rigor can be applied to non‐neuronal cells by focusing on microglia morphology. They extensively analyzed microglia morphology in the mouse somatosensory cortex using traditional manual tracing methods and an automated program that can quantify over 40 distinct parameters.…”