Thursday, June 02, 2022

Complete replacement of Microglia Treats Neurodegenerative Disease in Mice

Good news!

"... in the mouse brain, clearing out a critical population of immune cells known as microglia and replacing them with new ones. Moreover, they say, this procedure led to an improvement in symptoms for mice with a neurodegenerative disease linked to microglial malfunction
Though they’ve long received less attention than neurons, microglia play important roles in the brain, including clearing dead cells and defective proteins as well as shaping the formation of memories. Dysfunctional microglia have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, making them an attractive therapeutic target.  ..."

From the paper:
"... Here, Shibuya et al. developed an efficient microglia replacement approach in rodents using circulation-derived myeloid cells (CDMCs). ...
Here, we developed and characterized a near-complete and homogeneous replacement of microglia with bone marrow cells in mice without the need for genetic manipulation of donor or host. The high chimerism resulted from a competitive advantage of scarce donor cells during microglia repopulation rather than enhanced recruitment from the periphery. Hematopoietic stem cells, but not immediate myeloid or monocyte progenitor cells, contained full microglia replacement potency equivalent to whole bone marrow. ..."

Replacing Microglia Treats Neurodegenerative Disease in Mice | The Scientist Magazine® Researchers find a way to wipe out the brain’s immune cell corps and send in new and improved versions.

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