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Microglia exit the CNS in spinal root avulsion.

ABSTRACT: Microglia are central nervous system (CNS)-resident cells. Their ability to migrate outside of the CNS, however, is not understood. Using time-lapse imaging in an obstetrical brachial plexus injury (OBPI) model, we show that microglia squeeze through the spinal boundary and emigrate to peripheral spinal roots. Although both macrophages and microglia respond, microglia are the debris-clearing cell. Once outside the CNS, microglia re-enter the spinal cord in an altered state. These peripheral nervous system (PNS)-experienced microglia can travel to distal CNS areas from the injury site, including the brain, with debris. This emigration is balanced by two mechanisms-induced emigration via N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA) dependence and restriction via contact-dependent cellular repulsion with macrophages. These discoveries open the possibility that microglia can migrate outside of their textbook-defined regions in disease states.

SUBMITTER: Green LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6402705 | biostudies-other | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Microglia exit the CNS in spinal root avulsion.

Green Lauren A LA Nebiolo Julia C JC Smith Cody J CJ

PLoS biology 20190222 2

Microglia are central nervous system (CNS)-resident cells. Their ability to migrate outside of the CNS, however, is not understood. Using time-lapse imaging in an obstetrical brachial plexus injury (OBPI) model, we show that microglia squeeze through the spinal boundary and emigrate to peripheral spinal roots. Although both macrophages and microglia respond, microglia are the debris-clearing cell. Once outside the CNS, microglia re-enter the spinal cord in an altered state. These peripheral nerv ...[more]

PMID: 30794533

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Project description:BackgroundSpinal root avulsion induces multiple pathophysiological events consisting of altered levels of specific genes and proteins related to inflammation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress, which collectively result in the death of the affected motoneurons. Recent studies have demonstrated that the gene changes involved in spinal cord injury can be regulated by microRNAs, which are a class of short non-coding RNA molecules that repress target mRNAs post-transcriptionally. With consideration for the time course of the avulsion-induced gene expression patterns within dying motoneurons, we employed microarray analysis to determine whether and how microRNAs are involved in the changes of gene expression induced by pathophysiological events in spinal cord motoneurons.ResultsThe expression of a total of 3,361 miRNAs in the spinal cord of adult rats was identified. Unilateral root-avulsion resulted in significant alterations in miRNA expression. In the ipsilateral half compared to the contralateral half of the spinal cord, on the 3rd day after the injury, 55 miRNAs were upregulated, and 24 were downregulated, and on the 14th day after the injury, 36 miRNAs were upregulated, and 23 were downregulated. The upregulation of miR-146b-5p and miR-31a-3p and the downregulation of miR-324-3p and miR-484 were observed. Eleven of the miRNAs, including miR-21-5p, demonstrated a sustained increase; however, only miR-466c-3p presented a sustained decrease 3 and 14 days after the injury. More interestingly, 4 of the miRNAs, including miR-18a, were upregulated on the 3rd day but were downregulated on the 14th day after injury.Some of these miRNAs target inflammatory-response genes in the early stage of injury, and others target neurotransmitter transport genes in the intermediate stages of injury. The altered miRNA expression pattern suggests that the MAPK and calcium signaling pathways are consistently involved in the injury response.ConclusionsThis analysis may facilitate the understanding of the time-specific altered expression of a large set of microRNAs in the spinal cord after brachial root avulsion.

Dataset Information

Microglia exit the CNS in spinal root avulsion.

Publications

Microglia exit the CNS in spinal root avulsion.

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