PUBLICATION
Developmental Apoptosis Mediates Entry and Positioning of Microglia in the Zebrafish Brain
- Authors
- Casano, A.M., Albert, M., Peri, F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-160720-8
- Date
- 2016
- Source
- Cell Reports 16(4): 897-906 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Peri, Francesca
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Apoptosis/physiology*
- Brain/physiology*
- Brain Injuries/pathology
- Cell Death/physiology
- Microglia/physiology*
- Neurons/physiology
- Signal Transduction/physiology
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- PubMed
- 27425604 Full text @ Cell Rep.
Citation
Casano, A.M., Albert, M., Peri, F. (2016) Developmental Apoptosis Mediates Entry and Positioning of Microglia in the Zebrafish Brain. Cell Reports. 16(4):897-906.
Abstract
In the brain, neurons that fail to assemble into functional circuits are eliminated. Their clearance depends on microglia, immune cells that colonize the CNS during embryogenesis. Despite the importance of these cells in development and disease, the mechanisms that target and position microglia within the brain are unclear. Here we show that, in zebrafish, attraction of microglia into the brain exploits differences in developmental neuronal apoptosis and that these provide a mechanism for microglial distribution. Reducing neuronal cell death results in fewer microglia, whereas increased apoptosis enhances brain colonization, resulting in more microglia at later stages. Interestingly, attraction into the brain depends on nucleotide signaling, the same signaling system used to guide microglia toward brain injuries. Finally, this work uncovers a cell-non-autonomous role for developmental apoptosis. Classically considered a wasteful process, programmed cell death is exploited here to configure the immune-neuronal interface of the brain.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping