Regulatory Control of Microglial Phagocytosis by Estradiol and Prostaglandin E2 in the Developing Rat Cerebellum.

Regulatory Control of Microglial Phagocytosis by Estradiol and Prostaglandin E2 in the Developing Rat Cerebellum. Cerebellum. 2019 Aug 21;: Authors: Perez-Pouchoulen M, Yu SJ, Roby CR, Bonsavage N, McCarthy MM Abstract Microglia are essential to sculpting the developing brain, and they achieve this in part through the process of phagocytosis which is regulated by microenvironmental signals associated with cell death and synaptic connectivity. In the rat cerebellum, microglial phagocytosis reaches its highest activity during the third postnatal week of development but the factors regulating this activity are unknown. A signaling pathway, involving prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) stimulation of the estrogen synthetic enzyme aromatase, peaks during the 2nd postnatal week and is a critical regulator of Purkinje cell maturation. We explored the relationship between the PGE2-estradiol pathway and microglia in the maturing cerebellum. Toward that end, we treated developing rat pups with pharmacological inhibitors of estradiol and PGE2 synthesis and then stained microglia with the universal marker Iba1 and quantified microglia engaged in phagocytosis as well as phagocytic cups in the vermis and cerebellar hemispheres. Inhibition of aromatase reduced the number of phagocytic cups in the vermis, but not in the cerebellar hemisphere at postnatal day 17. Similar results were found after treatment with nimesulide and indomethacin, inhibitors of the PGE2-...
Source: Cerebellum - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Cerebellum Source Type: research