Finding the right tool: a comprehensive evaluation of microglial inducible cre mouse models

The recent proliferation of new Cre and CreER recombinase lines provides researchers with a diverse toolkit to study microglial gene function. To determine how best to apply these lines in studies of microglial gene function, a thorough and detailed comparison of their properties is needed. Here, we examined four different microglial CreER lines (Cx3cr1, Cx3cr1, P2ry12, Tmem119), focusing on (1) recombination specificity; (2) leakiness - degree of non-tamoxifen recombination in microglia and other cells; (3) efficiency of tamoxifen-induced recombination; (4) extra-neural recombination -the degree of recombination in cells outside the CNS, particularly myelo/monocyte lineages (5) off-target effects in the context of neonatal brain development. We identify important caveats and strengths for these lines which will provide broad significance for researchers interested in performing conditional gene deletion in microglia. We also provide data emphasizing the potential of these lines for injury models that result in the recruitment of splenic immune cells.