Complement Targets Newborn Retinal Ganglion Cells for Phagocytic Elimination by Microglia.

ABSTRACT: Microglia play important roles in shaping the developing CNS, and at early stages they have been proposed to regulate progenitor proliferation, differentiation, and neuronal survival. However, these studies reveal contradictory outcomes, highlighting the complexity of these cell-cell interactions. Here, we investigate microglia function during embryonic mouse retina development, where only microglia, progenitors, and neurons are present. In both sexes, we determine that microglia primarily interact with retinal neurons and find that depletion of microglia via conditional KO of the Csf1 receptor results in increased density of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Pharmacological inhibition of microglia also results in an increase in RGCs, with no effect on retinal progenitor proliferation,

SUBMITTER: Anderson SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6507095 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature