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Barry-Carroll L, Greulich P, Marshall AR, Riecken K, Fehse B, Askew KE, Li K, Garaschuk O, Menassa DA, Gomez-Nicola D. Microglia colonize the developing brain by clonal expansion of highly proliferative progenitors, following allometric scaling. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112425. [PMID: 37099424 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Microglia arise from the yolk sac and enter the brain during early embryogenesis. Upon entry, microglia undergo in situ proliferation and eventually colonize the entire brain by the third postnatal week in mice. However, the intricacies of their developmental expansion remain unclear. Here, we characterize the proliferative dynamics of microglia during embryonic and postnatal development using complementary fate-mapping techniques. We demonstrate that the developmental colonization of the brain is facilitated by clonal expansion of highly proliferative microglial progenitors that occupy spatial niches throughout the brain. Moreover, the spatial distribution of microglia switches from a clustered to a random pattern between embryonic and late postnatal development. Interestingly, the developmental increase in microglial numbers follows the proportional growth of the brain in an allometric manner until a mosaic distribution has been established. Overall, our findings offer insight into how the competition for space may drive microglial colonization by clonal expansion during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam Barry-Carroll
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK
| | - Philip Greulich
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK; Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Abigail R Marshall
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK
| | - Kristoffer Riecken
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Boris Fehse
- Research Department Cell and Gene Therapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Katharine E Askew
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK
| | - Kaizhen Li
- Department of Neurophysiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Olga Garaschuk
- Department of Neurophysiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - David A Menassa
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK; The Queen's College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Diego Gomez-Nicola
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK; Institute for Life Sciences (IfLS), University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
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