Depletion of microglia exacerbates injury and impairs function recovery after spinal cord injury in mice.

ABSTRACT: The role of microglia in spinal cord injury (SCI) remains ambiguous, partially due to the paucity of efficient methods to discriminate these resident microglia with blood-derived monocytes/macrophages. Here, we used pharmacological treatments to specifically eliminate microglia and subsequently to investigate the response of microglia after SCI in mice. We showed that treatment with colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) inhibitor PLX3397 eliminated ~90% microglia and did not affect other cell types in mouse spinal cord. PLX3397 treatment also induced a strong decrease in microglial proliferation induced by SCI. Depletion of microglia after SCI disrupted glial scar formation, enhanced immune cell infiltrates, reduced neuronal survival, delayed astrocyte repopulation, exacerbated axon

SUBMITTER: Fu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7359318 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature