"We also conducted experiments where we combined nerve cells from healthy individuals and diseased
microglia, and vice versa, and could conclude that the excessive pruning in the disease models was due to both a disrupted function of
microglia and aberrations in the synapses," says Jessica Gracias, doctoral student at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, and co-author of the study.
As part of the study, the researchers used mice prone to developing amyloid plaques and modified in various ways their TREM2 genes to influence the activity of their
microglia. The result was four groups of mice: two with fully functional
microglia because they carried the common variant of either the human or mouse TREM2 gene, and two with impaired
microglia that carried the high-risk human TREM2 variant or no copy of the TREM2 gene at all.
"As human iPSC derived-cells provide a more relevant biology than current animal models in preclinical trials, iCell
Microglia can help researchers gain a greater understanding of the nature of neurological diseases, and how to treat the diseases."
Isolation and identification of primary rat
microgliaIn the MGH study, researchers wanted to see how
microglia behaved in a lab-based AD setting.
With this technology, FCDI intends to develop an iPSC-derived
microglia product with media, which will be critical to enabling the study of degenerative neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Although some studies have examined how byproducts from organisms living in the gut may promote inflammation in the brain, the current study is the first to report on how microbial products may act directly on
microglia to prevent inflammation.
has formed a research collaboration with Boston, Massachusetts-based academic medical center Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) to study the effects of Alzheimer's disease-associated genetic variants on the behavior of brain cells, called
microglia, the company said.
Tsirka, "Contribution of extracellular proteolysis and
microglia to intracerebral hemorrhage," Neurocritical Care, vol.
Although many studies have reported the effects of BM-MSC transplantation in animal models of brain disease in reducing neuroinflammation induced by
microglia [15, 18, 19], the underlying mechanisms of BM-MSCs in targeting microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and the cellular network of activated
microglia are still unclear.
Microglia in the CNS originates from cells of mesodermal lineage.