Activated microglia do not form functional gap junctions in vivo

Sameh K Wasseff; Steven S Scherer

doi:10.1016/j.jneuroim.2014.02.005

Activated microglia do not form functional gap junctions in vivo

J Neuroimmunol. 2014 Apr 15;269(1-2):90-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2014.02.005. Epub 2014 Feb 13.

Authors

Sameh K Wasseff¹, Steven S Scherer²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. Electronic address: swasseff@mail.med.upenn.edu.
² Department of Neurology, The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. Electronic address: sscherer@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Abstract

We investigated whether microglia form gap junctions with themselves, or with astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, or neurons in vivo in normal mouse brains, and in pathological conditions that induce microglial activation - brain injury and a model of Alzheimer's disease. Although microglia are in close physical proximity to glia and neurons, they do not form functional gap junctions under these pathological conditions.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Astrocytes; Brain injury; Gap junctions; Microglia; Oligodendrocytes.

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease / metabolism*
Alzheimer Disease / pathology
Animals
Brain Injuries / metabolism*
Brain Injuries / pathology
Gap Junctions / metabolism*
Gap Junctions / pathology
Humans
Mice
Mice, 129 Strain
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Transgenic
Microglia / metabolism*
Microglia / pathology
Organ Culture Techniques

Grant support

R01 NS055284/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States