Dataset Information

Glucocorticoid-mediated modulation of morphological changes associated with aging in microglia.

ABSTRACT: Microglia dynamically adapt their morphology and function during increasing age. However, the mechanisms behind these changes are to date poorly understood. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are long known and utilized for their immunomodulatory actions and endogenous GC levels are described to alter with advancing age. We here tested the hypothesis that age-associated elevations in GC levels implicate microglia function and morphology. Our data indicate a decrease in microglial complexity and a concomitant increase in GC levels during aging. Interestingly, enhancing GC levels in young mice enhanced microglial ramifications, while the knockdown of the glucocorticoid receptor expression in old mice aggravated age-associated microglial amoebification. These data suggest that GCs increase ramification of hippocampal microglia and may modulate age-associated changes in microglial morphology.

SUBMITTER: van Olst L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6052476 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Glucocorticoid-mediated modulation of morphological changes associated with aging in microglia.

van Olst Lynn L Bielefeld Pascal P Fitzsimons Carlos P CP de Vries Helga E HE Schouten Marijn M

Aging cell 20180607 4

Microglia dynamically adapt their morphology and function during increasing age. However, the mechanisms behind these changes are to date poorly understood. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are long known and utilized for their immunomodulatory actions and endogenous GC levels are described to alter with advancing age. We here tested the hypothesis that age-associated elevations in GC levels implicate microglia function and morphology. Our data indicate a decrease in microglial complexity and a concomitant ...[more]

PMID: 29882317

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Project description:Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a psychiatric disorder that can include symptoms of disorganized speech and thoughts with uncertain underlying mechanisms possibly linked to over-activated microglia. In this study, we used brain samples from sixteen donors with SCZ and thirteen control donors to assess the differential activation of microglia by quantifying density and 3D reconstruction of microglia stained with ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule-1 (Iba1). Our samples consisted of sections from the frontal, temporal, and cingulate cortical gray matter, subcortical white matter regions (SCWM), and included the anterior corpus callosum. In the first series of studies, we performed a density analysis followed by a spatial analysis to ascertain the microglial density, distribution, and soma size in SCZ brains. Second, we performed a series of morphological quantification techniques to investigate the arborization patterns of the microglia in SCZ. The results demonstrated an increase in microglia density in the cortical gray matter regions in SCZ cases, while in the SCWM, there was a significant increase in microglia density in the frontal and temporal, but not in the other brain regions of interest (ROIs). Spatial analysis using the "nearest neighbor" demonstrated that there was no effect in "clustering", but there were shorter distances between microglia seen in the SCZ cases. The morphological measures showed that there was a region-dependent increase in the microglia soma size in the SCZ cases while the Sholl analysis revealed a significant decrease in the microglia arborization in the SCZ cases across all the ROI's studied. An in-depth 3D reconstruction of microglia in Brodmann area 9 cortical region found that there was a significant association between age and reduced microglial arborization in the SCZ cases. This region-dependent age association can help determine whether longitudinal changes in microglial activation across age are brain region-dependent, which may point to potential therapeutic targets.

Dataset Information

Glucocorticoid-mediated modulation of morphological changes associated with aging in microglia.

Publications

Glucocorticoid-mediated modulation of morphological changes associated with aging in microglia.

Similar Datasets

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