Mitochondria are absent from microglial processes performing surveillance, chemotaxis, and phagocytic engulfment.

ABSTRACT: Microglia continually surveil the brain allowing for rapid detection of tissue damage or infection. Microglial metabolism is linked to tissue homeostasis, yet how mitochondria are subcellularly partitioned in microglia and dynamically reorganize during surveillance, injury responses, and phagocytic engulfment in the intact brain are not known. Here, we performed intravital imaging of microglia mitochondria, revealing that microglial processes diverge, with some containing multiple mitochondria while others are completely void. Microglial processes that engage in minute-to-minute surveillance typically do not have mitochondria. Moreover, unlike process surveillance, mitochondrial motility does not change with animal anesthesia. Likewise, the processes that acutely chemoattract to a lesion s

SUBMITTER: Pietramale AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11507814 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature