Microglia and Astrocytes Mediate Synapse Engulfment in a MER Tyrosine Kinase-dependent Manner After Traumatic Brain Injury

Overview

Journal Neural Regen Res

Date 2023 Feb 8

PMID 36751804

Authors

Hui Shen

Xiao-Jing Shi

Lin Qi

Cheng Wang

Muyassar Mamtilahun

Zhi-Jun Zhang

Won-Suk Chung

Guo-Yuan Yang

Yao-Hui Tang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that microglia/macrophages and astrocytes can mediate synaptic phagocytosis through the MER proto-oncokinase in developmental or stroke models, but it is unclear whether the same mechanism is also active in traumatic brain injury. In this study, we established a mouse model of traumatic brain injury and found that both microglia/macrophages and astrocytes phagocytosed synapses and expression of the MER proto-oncokinase increased 14 days after injury. Specific knockout of MER in microglia/macrophages or astrocytes markedly reduced injury volume and greatly improved neurobehavioral function. In addition, in both microglia/macrophages-specific and astrocytes-specific MER knock-out mice, the number of microglia/macrophage and astrocyte phagocytosing synapses was markedly decreased, and the total number of dendritic spines was increased. Our study suggested that MER proto-oncokinase expression in microglia/macrophages and astrocytes may play an important role in synaptic phagocytosis, and inhibiting this process could be a new strategy for treating traumatic brain injury.

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