Our new paper in Cell Reports

Although the important role of microglia in brain development has been pointed out in many previous studies, the exact cell-to-cell communication mechanisms allowing microglia to influence neuronal development and the formation of complex neuronal networks have not been clarified. Our study is the first to describe the presence of a direct link between microglia and the cell body of developing neurons and to reveal the role of these contacts in brain development. The discovery may be of importance for understanding the mechanisms of brain immune processes that often underlie neurodevelopmental disorders and related neuropathologies.

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111369

Microglial processes establish direct contacts on the cell bodies of developing neurons from embryonal day 15 (E15), throughout postnatal development and during postnatal neurogenesis. These contacts possess a specialized structural and molecular composition, as neuronal mitochondria and vesicles are enriched at these sites, with the accumulation of the microglia-specific P2Y12 receptors on contacting microglial processes. Acute inhibition of these receptors leads to inhibition of contact formation, while genetic deletion of P2Y12 receptors results in disturbed cortical cytoarchitecture.

The first authors of the study are Csaba Cserép, researcher of the Laboratory of Neuroimmunology and his student Anett Dóra Schwarcz, a PhD student in the laboratory, and the last author is the group leader, Ádám Dénes. Other lab members also contributed substantially to the work, including Balázs Pósfai, Zsuzsa Környei, Anna Kellermayer and Miklós Nyerges. We are very grateful to our valuable collaborators in the Katona lab, István Katona, Zsolt Lele, Zsófia László and Máté Kisfali.

A short interview about the paper with Anett, Csaba and Ádám is available here.