Sexual dimorphism of microglia and synapses during mouse postnatal development

ABSTRACT Microglia participate in synapse remodeling in the cortex and hippocampus during mouse postnatal development. Although sex differences in microglia activity during embryonic development have been reported in these regions, it remains unexplored whether microglia show sexually dimorphic feat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental neurobiology (Hoboken, N.J.) N.J.), 2018-06, Vol.78 (6), p.618-626
Main Authors: Weinhard, Laetitia, Neniskyte, Urte, Vadisiute, Auguste, di Bartolomei, Giulia, Aygün, Nil, Riviere, Laurie, Zonfrillo, Francesca, Dymecki, Susan, Gross, Cornelius
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brain
Dendritic Spines - physiology
Embryogenesis
Embryonic growth stage
Female
Gender differences
Hippocampus
Hippocampus - cytology
Hippocampus - growth & development
Hippocampus - physiology
Male
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Transgenic
Microglia
Microglia - cytology
Microglia - physiology
Morphology
Nervous system
Neurosciences
Phagocytes
Phagocytosis - physiology
postnatal development
Presynapse
Sex Characteristics
Sex differences
Sexual dimorphism
synapse formation
Synapses
Synapses - physiology
Synaptic density
Synaptogenesis
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:ABSTRACT Microglia participate in synapse remodeling in the cortex and hippocampus during mouse postnatal development. Although sex differences in microglia activity during embryonic development have been reported in these regions, it remains unexplored whether microglia show sexually dimorphic features during the early postnatal period, a critical window for synapse formation and maturation. Here, we investigated morphological and functional features of microglia across early postnatal development as well as morphological features of both pre‐ and postsynaptic neuronal compartments in the mouse hippocampus. We found a sex‐dependent shift in microglia volume and phagocytic capacity across the first four postnatal weeks. Measurements of synaptic features revealed sex differences in the density of synaptic spines and boutons during the second postnatal week. These data are consistent with a precocious development of both microglia and synapses in the female brain. We further hypothesize that this bias may contribute to sex‐specific brain wiring. © 2017 The Authors. Developmental Neurobiology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 78: 618–626, 2018
ISSN:1932-8451
1932-846X
DOI:10.1002/dneu.22568