Microglial recruitment and mechanisms involved in the disruption of afferent synaptic terminals on spinal cord motor neurons after acute peripheral nerve injury.

ABSTRACT: Peripheral nerve section with subsequent disconnection of motor neuron (MN) cell bodies from their skeletal muscle targets leads to a rapid reactive response involving the recruitment and activation of microglia. In addition, the loss of afferent synapses on MNs occurs in concomitance with microglial reaction by a process described as synaptic stripping. However, the way in which postaxotomy-activated microglia adjacent to MNs are involved in synaptic removal is less defined. Here, we used confocal and electron microscopy to examine interactions between recruited microglial cells and presynaptic terminals in axotomized MNs between 1 and 15 days after sciatic nerve transection in mice. We did not observe any bulk engulfment of synaptic boutons by microglia. Instead, microglial cells interna

SUBMITTER: Salvany S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7986680 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature