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Updated: Nov 22, 2025

Time-lapse Imaging of Mouse Macrophage Chemotaxis
Published on: April 2, 2020
The role of microglia membrane potential in chemotaxis
Laura Laprell1, Christian Schulze2, Marie-Luise Brehme2
1Institute for Synaptic Physiology, Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Falkenried 94, 20251, Hamburg, Germany. laura.laprell@zmnh.uni-hamburg.de.
Abstract:
Microglia react to danger signals by rapid and targeted extension of cellular processes towards the source of the signal. This positive chemotactic response is accompanied by a hyperpolarization of the microglia membrane. Here, we show that optogenetic depolarization of microglia has little effect on baseline motility, but significantly slows down the chemotactic response. Reducing the extracellular Ca2+ concentration mimics the effect of optogenetic depolarization. As the membrane potential sets the driving force for Ca2+ entry, hyperpolarization is an integral part of rapid stimulus-response coupling in microglia. Compared to typical excitable cells such as neurons, the sign of the activating response is inverted in microglia, leading to inhibition by depolarizing channelrhodopsins.
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