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Microglia Under the Spotlight: Activity and Complement-Dependent Engulfment of Synapses

Morgane S Thion1, Sonia Garel1

  • 1Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, INSERM, PSL Université Paris, 75005 Paris, France.

Trends in Neurosciences
|May 27, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Microglia are key to brain wiring, pruning synapses in an activity-dependent manner. This process, reliant on the complement cascade, is crucial for both normal brain development and in understanding brain disorders.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Immunology
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, play critical roles in brain development and function.
  • Synaptic plasticity and circuit formation are fundamental processes in establishing functional neural networks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the role of microglia in regulating the development of functional connectivity.
  • To investigate the mechanisms underlying microglial involvement in synaptic pruning.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of synaptic elimination by microglia in the retinogeniculate system.
  • Investigation of activity-dependent mechanisms and the complement cascade in synaptic pruning.

Main Results:

  • Microglia were shown to actively engulf and eliminate synapses during the emergence of functional connectivity.
  • Synaptic pruning by microglia was demonstrated to be an activity-dependent process.
  • The complement cascade was identified as a key molecular pathway mediating this microglial function.

Conclusions:

  • Microglia are essential regulators of neural circuit formation through activity-dependent synaptic pruning.
  • Dysregulation of microglial synaptic pruning may contribute to the pathophysiology of brain disorders.
Keywords:
activitycomplement receptor 3engulfmentmicrogliapostnatalsynapses

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