4.7 Article

Novel Hexb-based tools for studying microglia in the CNS

Journal

NATURE IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 21, Issue 7, Pages 802-+

Publisher

NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41590-020-0707-4

Keywords

-

Categories

Funding

  1. KANAE Foundation for the Promotion of Medical Science
  2. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
  3. Sobek Foundation
  4. Ernst-Jung Foundation
  5. German Research Foundation (DFG) [SFB 992, SFB1160, SFB/TRR167]
  6. Ministry of Science, Research and Arts, Baden-Wuerttemberg (Sonderlinie 'Neuroinflammation')
  7. DFG under Germany's Excellence Strategy [CIBSS-EXC-2189, 390939984]
  8. DFG [SFB/TRR167]
  9. UK DRI Momentum Award
  10. MRC [MC_PC_16031] Funding Source: UKRI

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Microglia have key roles in central nervous system (CNS) disease and homeostasis but their study can be challenging. Prinz and colleagues identify hexosaminidase subunit beta (Hexb) to be specifically expressed by microglia and stable even under inflammatory conditions. Microglia and central nervous system (CNS)-associated macrophages (CAMs), such as perivascular and meningeal macrophages, are implicated in virtually all diseases of the CNS. However, little is known about their cell-type-specific roles in the absence of suitable tools that would allow for functional discrimination between the ontogenetically closely related microglia and CAMs. To develop a new microglia gene targeting model, we first applied massively parallel single-cell analyses to compare microglia and CAM signatures during homeostasis and disease and identified hexosaminidase subunit beta (Hexb)as a stably expressed microglia core gene, whereas other microglia core genes were substantially downregulated during pathologies. Next, we generatedHexb(tdTomato)mice to stably monitor microglia behavior in vivo. Finally, theHexblocus was employed for tamoxifen-inducible Cre-mediated gene manipulation in microglia and for fate mapping of microglia but not CAMs. In sum, we provide valuable new genetic tools to specifically study microglia functions in the CNS.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available