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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Isolation and Flow Cytometric Assessment of Neuroimmune Interactions in a Mini-Stroke Murine Model
Published on: June 20, 2025
Imaging of microglia activation in stroke
Alexander Thiel1, Wolf-Dieter Heiss
1Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E2, Canada. alexander.thiel@mcgill.ca
Abstract:
Activated microglia is one of the most important cellular components of poststroke neuroinflammation, which occurs early in the area of the infarct but also in remote regions with fiber tract connections to the site of the primary lesion. The development of different radioligands for the translocator protein, a mitochondrial membrane protein expressed in microglial cells when they transform from the resting to the activated state, allows to study the temporal dynamics of this cellular neuroinflammatory component in vivo in animal models and human stroke using positron emission tomography. In this article, we review the advantage and limitations of current and future methods for microglia imaging as well as new results of multimodal imaging approaches in clinical stroke, which try to combine microglia imaging with diffusion tensor imaging to investigate the clinical relevance of remote microglia activation along fiber tracts for poststroke recovery.
Insights
Activated microglia contribute to post-stroke neuroinflammation. Positron emission tomography with translocator protein radioligands enables in vivo imaging of this process, aiding recovery research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Immunology
- Radiology
Background:
- Activated microglia are key players in post-stroke neuroinflammation, affecting both the infarct area and remote connected regions.
- The translocator protein (TSPO) is a marker for activated microglia, expressed on their mitochondria.
- Positron emission tomography (PET) allows in vivo imaging of TSPO, enabling the study of neuroinflammation dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current and future methods for microglia imaging in stroke.
- To discuss the advantages and limitations of TSPO-based PET imaging.
- To explore multimodal imaging approaches combining microglia and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for stroke recovery.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on microglia imaging in stroke.
- Discussion of TSPO radioligands and PET imaging techniques.
- Analysis of multimodal imaging studies integrating PET and DTI in clinical stroke.
Main Results:
- PET imaging with TSPO radioligands offers insights into the temporal dynamics of microglial activation in vivo.
- Multimodal imaging approaches are emerging to link remote microglia activation along fiber tracts to clinical outcomes.
- Understanding remote microglia activation is crucial for post-stroke recovery.
Conclusions:
- TSPO-PET is a valuable tool for studying neuroinflammation in stroke.
- Multimodal imaging holds promise for elucidating the role of remote microglia activation in stroke recovery.
- Further research is needed to optimize imaging techniques and understand their clinical relevance.
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