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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Isolation of Cortical Microglia with Preserved Immunophenotype and Functionality From Murine Neonates
Published on: January 30, 2014
Intraventricular IL-17A administration activates microglia and alters their localization in the mouse embryo cerebral
Tetsuya Sasaki1,2, Saki Tome3, Yosuke Takei4,5
1Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan. tsasaki@md.tsukuba.ac.jp.
Abstract:
Viral infection during pregnancy has been suggested to increase the probability of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring via the phenomenon of maternal immune activation (MIA). This has been modeled in rodents. Maternal T helper 17 cells and the effector cytokine, interleukin 17A (IL-17A), play a central role in MIA-induced behavioral abnormalities and cortical dysgenesis, termed cortical patch. However, it is unclear how IL-17A acts on fetal brain cells to cause ASD pathologies. To assess the effect of IL-17A on cortical development, we directly administered IL-17A into the lateral ventricles of the fetal mouse brain. We analyzed injected brains focusing on microglia, which express IL-17A receptors. We found that IL-17A activated microglia and altered their localization in the cerebral cortex. Our data indicate that IL-17A activates cortical microglia, which leads to a cascade of ASD-related brain pathologies, including excessive phagocytosis of neural progenitor cells in the ventricular zone.
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