Project description:Microglia, brain resident macrophages, require instruction from the central nervous system microenvironment to maintain their identity, morphology, and to regulate inflammatory responses. We investigated the heterogeneity of response of microglia to the presence of neurons and astrocytes by performing single-cell sequencing of microglia in both monoculture, and in coculture with neurons and astrocytes.
Project description:In this article, Jose Polo and colleagues molecularly compare existing microglia differentiation methods from stem cells, generate a new dual fluorescent and enzymatic reporter tool to study microglia in vitro and in vivo and show that human astrocyte/neuron co-culture pushes the regulatory landscape of in vitro microglia-like cells to more closely resemble bona fide microglia.
Project description:We developed a novel FACS-based method to isolate enriched populations of neurons, astrocytes, and microglia. Whole mouse brains were digested, and populations of neurons, astrocytes, and microglia were subsequently enriched by FACS using a combination of positive gating on cell-type specific markers and stringent negative selection against markers of oligodendrocytes and endothelial cells. We confirmed a strong enrichment of corresponding cell-type specific genes in isolated populations and a reduction in gene markers of endothelial cells and oligodendrocytes, demonstrating that highly pure populations of neurons, astrocytes, and microglia were obtained.
Project description:Preparation of primary microglial cultures from postnatal mice is tedious with a low yield, high variability and risk of astrocytic contamination. Microglia derived from embryonic stem cells (ESdM) have been suggested as alternative source, but it is unclear how closely ESdM resemble the molecular phenotype of primary microglia. Here, we performed a whole transcriptome analysis of ESdM in comparison to primary cultured and flow cytometry-sorted microglia and compared the microglial transcriptome to other cell types. Cultured microglia and ESdM were related to sorted microglia, but clearly distinct from other myeloid cell types, T cells, astrocytes and neurons. ESdM and primary cultured microglia showed strong overlap in their transcriptome. Only 144 gene transcripts were differentially expressed between both cell types, mainly derived from immune-related genes with a higher activation status of pro-inflammatory and immune defense genes in primary microglia compared to ESdM. Flow cytometry analysis of cell surface markers CD54, CD74 and CD274 selected from the microarray confirmed the close phenotypic relation between ESdM and primary cultured microglia. Thus, assessment of genome-wide transcriptional regulation demonstrates that microglia are distinct from other macrophage cell types and that mouse pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia are closely related to cultured postnatal microglia. Comparison of different primary neuronal cells with ES-cell derived microglial cells
Project description:We investigated non-cell-autonomously regulated gene expression in microglia, neurons and astrocytes by co-culturing these cell types (derived from different mammalian species) together, and then separating the RNA-seq reads from each cell type/species in silico.
Project description:We investigated non-cell-autonomous regulation of gene expression in microglia by neurons and astrocytes, by co-culturing these cell types (derived from different mammalian species) together, and then separating the RNA-seq reads from each cell type/species in silico. This submission forms a companion to the data in E-MTAB-5987. We investigated non-cell-autonomously regulated gene expression in microglia by co-culturing these cell types (derived from different mammalian species) together, and then separating the RNA-seq reads from each cell type/species in silico.
Project description:Isolation of glia from Alzheimer's mice reveals inflammation and dysfunction. Reactive astrocytes and microglia are associated with amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Yet, not much is known about the molecular alterations underlying this reactive phenotype. To get an insight into the molecular changes underlying AD induced astrocyte and microglia reactivity, we performed a transcriptional analysis on acutely isolated astrocytes and microglia from the cortex of aged controls and APPswe/PS1dE9 AD mice. As expected, both cell types acquired a proinflammatory phenotype, which confirms the validity of our approach. Interestingly, we observed that the immune alteration in astrocytes was relatively more pronounced than in microglia. Concurrently, our data reveal that astrocytes display a reduced expression of neuronal support genes and genes involved in neuronal communication. The microglia showed a reduced expression of phagocytosis and/or endocytosis genes. Co-expression analysis of a human AD expression data set and the astrocyte and microglia data sets revealed that the inflammatory changes in astrocytes were remarkably comparable in mouse and human AD, whereas the microglia changes showed less similarity. Based on these findings we argue that chronically proinflammatory astrocyte and microglia phenotypes, showing a reduction of genes involved in neuronal support and neuronal signaling, are likely to contribute to the neuronal dysfunction and cognitive decline in AD. 2 cell types from 2 conditions: cortical microglia and cortical astrocytes from 15-18 month old APPswe/PS1dE9 mice compared to wildtype littermates. Biological replicates: microglia from APPswe/PS1dE9, N=7, microglia from WT, N=7, astrocytes from APPswe/PS1dE9, N=4, microglia from WT, N=4
Project description:Preparation of primary microglial cultures from postnatal mice is tedious with a low yield, high variability and risk of astrocytic contamination. Microglia derived from embryonic stem cells (ESdM) have been suggested as alternative source, but it is unclear how closely ESdM resemble the molecular phenotype of primary microglia. Here, we performed a whole transcriptome analysis of ESdM in comparison to primary cultured and flow cytometry-sorted microglia and compared the microglial transcriptome to other cell types. Cultured microglia and ESdM were related to sorted microglia, but clearly distinct from other myeloid cell types, T cells, astrocytes and neurons. ESdM and primary cultured microglia showed strong overlap in their transcriptome. Only 144 gene transcripts were differentially expressed between both cell types, mainly derived from immune-related genes with a higher activation status of pro-inflammatory and immune defense genes in primary microglia compared to ESdM. Flow cytometry analysis of cell surface markers CD54, CD74 and CD274 selected from the microarray confirmed the close phenotypic relation between ESdM and primary cultured microglia. Thus, assessment of genome-wide transcriptional regulation demonstrates that microglia are distinct from other macrophage cell types and that mouse pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia are closely related to cultured postnatal microglia.
Project description:We used microarrays to compare the global programme of gene expression in primary cultures of neurons and astrocytes. These data sets were compared to the expression profiles of other tissues, including pancreatic islets, in order to identify a specific neuroendocrine program in pancreatic islets. Neurons and astrocytes were isolated from brain cortex and cultured in vitro for 7 and 20 days respectively. RNA was extracted and hybridized on Affymetrix microarrays. Two biological samples from neurons and astrocytes were analyzed.