Fernández-Blanco, Á.; Sierra, C.; Tejido, C.; Dierssen, M. Beyond Quiescent and Active: Intermediate Microglial Transcriptomic States in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024, 25, 3289, doi:10.3390/ijms25063289.
Fernández-Blanco, Á.; Sierra, C.; Tejido, C.; Dierssen, M. Beyond Quiescent and Active: Intermediate Microglial Transcriptomic States in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024, 25, 3289, doi:10.3390/ijms25063289.
Fernández-Blanco, Á.; Sierra, C.; Tejido, C.; Dierssen, M. Beyond Quiescent and Active: Intermediate Microglial Transcriptomic States in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024, 25, 3289, doi:10.3390/ijms25063289.
Fernández-Blanco, Á.; Sierra, C.; Tejido, C.; Dierssen, M. Beyond Quiescent and Active: Intermediate Microglial Transcriptomic States in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024, 25, 3289, doi:10.3390/ijms25063289.
Abstract
Research on microglia in Down syndrome (DS) has shown that microglial activation, increased inflammatory gene expression, and oxidative stress occur at different ages in DS brains. However, most studies resulted in simplistic definitions of microglia as quiescent or active, ignoring potential intermediate states. However, a recent work on microglial cells in young DS brains indicated that those evolve through different intermediate activation phenotypes before reaching a full activated state. Here we used single nucleus RNA sequencing, to examine how trisomy affects microglial states in the Ts65Dn mouse model of DS. Despite no substantial changes in the proportion of glial populations, differential expression analysis revealed cell type-specific gene expression changes, most notably in astroglia, microglia, and oligodendroglia. Focusing on microglia, we identified differential expression of genes associated with different microglial states, including disease-associated microglia (DAMs), activated response microglia (ARMs), and human Alzheimer’s disease microglia (HAMs), in trisomic microglia. Furthermore, pseudotime analysis reveals a unique reactivity profile in Ts65Dn microglia, with fewer in a homeostatic state and more in an intermediate aberrantly reactive state than in euploid microglia. This comprehensive understanding of microglial transcriptional dynamics sheds light on potential pathogenetic mechanisms but also possible avenues for therapy for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Keywords
Down syndrome; microglia; disease-associated microglia
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
