A new genetic strategy for targeting microglia in development and disease

• Published in: eLife Vol. 9
• Main Authors: McKinsey, Gabriel L, Lizama, Carlos O, Keown-Lang, Amber E, Niu, Abraham, Santander, Nicolas, Larpthaveesarp, Amara, Chee, Elin, Gonzalez, Fernando F, Arnold, Thomas D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 23.06.2020; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis; Bone marrow; Brain; Brain injuries; Brain injury; Brain Ischemia - pathology; Central nervous system; Choroid plexus; Development and progression; Embryo, Mammalian - anatomy & histology; Embryogenesis; Embryonic development; fate mapping; Flow Cytometry; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Gene Knock-In Techniques - methods; Health aspects; Immunology and Inflammation; Immunoprecipitation; Inflammation; Inflammation - pathology; Ischemia; Macrophages; Mice; Microglia; Microglia - pathology; Microglia - physiology; Monocytes; Multiple sclerosis; neuroinflammation; Neuroscience; Phagocytosis; Protein expression; Receptors, Purinergic P2Y12 - genetics; Receptors, Purinergic P2Y12 - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins; Recombination; ribosomal profiling; Spinal cord; Stroke; Tools and Resources; mouse; fate mapping; ribosomal profiling; inflammation; neuroinflammation; multiple sclerosis; neuroscience; immunology; microglia; stroke
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/elife.54590

As the resident macrophages of the brain and spinal cord, microglia are crucial for the phagocytosis of infectious agents, apoptotic cells and synapses. During brain injury or infection, bone-marrow derived macrophages invade neural tissue, making it difficult to distinguish between invading macrophages and resident microglia. In addition to circulation-derived monocytes, other non-microglial central nervous system (CNS) macrophage subtypes include border-associated meningeal, perivascular and choroid plexus macrophages. Using immunofluorescent labeling, flow cytometry and Cre-dependent ribosomal immunoprecipitations, we describe , a new tool for the genetic targeting of microglia. We use this new tool to track microglia during embryonic development and in the context of ischemic injury and neuroinflammation. Because of the specificity and robustness of microglial recombination with , we believe that this new mouse line will be particularly useful for future studies of microglial function in development and disease.