Bobotis Bianca Caroline, Halvorson Torin, Carrier Micaël, Tremblay Marie-Ève
Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Front Cell Neurosci. 2024 Feb 15;18:1317125. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2024.1317125. eCollection 2024.
The central nervous system (CNS) is an essential hub for neuronal communication. As a major component of the CNS, glial cells are vital in the maintenance and regulation of neuronal network dynamics. Research on microglia, the resident innate immune cells of the CNS, has advanced considerably in recent years, and our understanding of their diverse functions continues to grow. Microglia play critical roles in the formation and regulation of neuronal synapses, myelination, responses to injury, neurogenesis, inflammation, and many other physiological processes. In parallel with advances in microglial biology, cutting-edge techniques for the characterization of microglial properties have emerged with increasing depth and precision. Labeling tools and reporter models are important for the study of microglial morphology, ultrastructure, and dynamics, but also for microglial isolation, which is required to glean key phenotypic information through single-cell transcriptomics and other emerging approaches. Strategies for selective microglial depletion and modulation can provide novel insights into microglia-targeted treatment strategies in models of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions, cancer, and autoimmunity. Finally, fate mapping has emerged as an important tool to answer fundamental questions about microglial biology, including their origin, migration, and proliferation throughout the lifetime of an organism. This review aims to provide a comprehensive discussion of these established and emerging techniques, with applications to the study of microglia in development, homeostasis, and CNS pathologies.
中枢神经系统（CNS）是神经元通讯的重要枢纽。作为中枢神经系统的主要组成部分，神经胶质细胞在维持和调节神经网络动态方面至关重要。近年来，对中枢神经系统常驻固有免疫细胞小胶质细胞的研究取得了显著进展，我们对其多种功能的理解也在不断加深。小胶质细胞在神经元突触的形成和调节、髓鞘形成、损伤反应、神经发生、炎症以及许多其他生理过程中发挥着关键作用。随着小胶质细胞生物学的发展，用于表征小胶质细胞特性的前沿技术也日益深入和精确。标记工具和报告模型不仅对研究小胶质细胞的形态、超微结构和动态很重要，对于小胶质细胞的分离也很重要，而小胶质细胞的分离是通过单细胞转录组学和其他新兴方法获取关键表型信息所必需的。选择性小胶质细胞耗竭和调节策略可为神经精神和神经退行性疾病、癌症和自身免疫模型中的小胶质细胞靶向治疗策略提供新的见解。最后，命运图谱已成为回答有关小胶质细胞生物学基本问题的重要工具，包括它们在生物体整个生命周期中的起源、迁移和增殖。本综述旨在全面讨论这些已确立和新兴的技术，并将其应用于研究小胶质细胞在发育、稳态和中枢神经系统病理学中的作用。
