Microglia contact cerebral vasculature through gaps between astrocyte endfeet.

ABSTRACT: The close spatial relationship between microglia and cerebral blood vessels implicates microglia in vascular development, homeostasis and disease. In this study we used the publicly available Cortical MM^3 electron microscopy dataset to systematically investigate microglial interactions with the vasculature. Our analysis revealed that approximately 20% of microglia formed direct contacts with blood vessels through gaps between adjacent astrocyte endfeet. We termed these contact points "plugs". Plug-forming microglia exhibited closer proximity to blood vessels than non-plug forming microglia and formed multiple plugs, predominantly near the soma, ranging in surface area from ∼0.01 μm² to ∼15 μm². Plugs were enriched at the venule end of the vascular tree and displayed

SUBMITTER: Morris GP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11751324 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature