Primary and immortalized microglia exhibit divergent responses to hemoglobin

Microglia are the resident innate immune cells of the central nervous system and play critical roles in normal development and pathology. In hemorrhagic stroke, including neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), microglia are thought to orchestrate the brain's immune response to blood breakdown products such as hemoglobin (Hgb) (Erdei et al., 2020). To better understand the pathology of neuroinflammatory diseases such as IVH, in vitro models, using primary microglia and immortalized microglia such as BV-2 cells, are widely used. However, fundamental differences between these cell types remain poorly characterized. Here, we compare inflammatory, cytotoxic, and metabolic responses of primary rat microglia and BV-2 cells in response to Hgb that is released after IVH. Metabolic profiling demonstrated higher basal metabolic activity and non-mitochondrial respiration indicative of reactive oxygen species production in primary microglia, with adaptive metabolic switching in response to Hgb exposure. In contrast, BV-2 cells exhibited high energy demand and limited metabolic shifts in response to Hgb. Primary microglia exhibited robust tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release at low Hgb concentrations, consistent with our prior studies. In contrast, BV-2 cells required higher Hgb concentrations to elicit measurable TNF-α release. Cytotoxicity assessments revealed elevated baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in BV-2 cells, whereas higher doses of Hgb were needed to elevate LDH levels in primary microglia. Together, these findings demonstrate critical immunometabolic distinctions between primary and immortalized microglial cells and establish that BV-2 cells do not reliably recapitulate primary microglial responses to blood breakdown products. Researchers using in vitro microglial preparations to study brain hemorrhage must carefully consider these differences when designing experiments, as reliance on BV-2 cells alone risks misrepresenting the neuroinflammatory response to IVH.