Microglial morphology in the somatosensory cortex across lifespan. A quantitative study

Background Microglia are long‐lived cells that constantly monitor their microenvironment. To accomplish this task, they constantly change their morphology both in the short and long term under physiological conditions. This makes the process of quantifying physiological microglial morphology difficu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental dynamics 2023-08, Vol.252 (8), p.1113-1129
Main Authors: Godeanu, Sanziana, Clarke, Devin, Stopper, Laura, Deftu, Alexandru‐Florian, Popa‐Wagner, Aurel, Bălșeanu, Adrian Tudor, Scheller, Anja, Catalin, Bogdan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cortex
Cortex (somatosensory)
Life span
lifespan changes
Microenvironments
Microglia
microglia arborization
Morphology
Parameter identification
Phenotypes
Physiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Microglia are long‐lived cells that constantly monitor their microenvironment. To accomplish this task, they constantly change their morphology both in the short and long term under physiological conditions. This makes the process of quantifying physiological microglial morphology difficult. Results By using a semi‐manual and a semi‐automatic method to assess fine changes in cortical microglia morphology, we were able to quantify microglia changes in number, surveillance and branch tree starting from the fifth postnatal day to 2 years of life. We were able to identify a fluctuating behavior of most analyzed parameters characterized by a rapid cellular maturation, followed by a long period of relative stable morphology during the adult life with a final convergence to an aged phenotype. Detailed cellular arborization analysis revealed age‐induced differences in microglia morphology, with mean branch length and the number of terminal processes changing constantly over time. Conclusions Our study provides insight into microglia morphology changes across lifespan under physiological conditions. We were able to highlight, that due to the dynamic nature of microglia several morphological parameters are needed to establish the physiological state of these cells. Key Findings Detailed characterization of normal microglia morphology reviled specific changes across lifespan, showing both population and cellular differences in early, adult and old mice.
ISSN:1058-8388
1097-0177
DOI:10.1002/dvdy.582