2012165438+129 October, Developmental Cell published a research paper entitled "Two-way Functional Regulation between Resting Microglia and Neurons" by Du Jiulin, Institute of Neurology, Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This work was completed by doctoral students Mars and Du under the guidance of researcher Du Jiulin.

Microglia are important immune effector cells in the central nervous system. Under pathological conditions, microglia will be activated rapidly, become amoeba, migrate and participate in a series of immune reactions and tissue repair processes. In the physiological state, microglia are in a "static" state, and many cell processes are constantly expanding and contracting to explore the surrounding environment. For a long time, people know little about the function of resting microglia and its functional significance of close contact with neurons in the environment.

In this study, zebrafish was used as a model animal, and the bidirectional functional regulation between resting microglia and neurons was found by using the methods of in vivo focusing and two-photon imaging, glutamic acid unlocking technology, in vivo electrophysiological recording and fluorescence energy vibration transfer imaging. They first observed the morphology of microglia and the electrical activity of neurons in zebrafish larvae for a long time in vivo, and found that the increase of electrical activity of neurons could attract the processes of static microglia to move to neurons with high electrical activity and promote close contact between them. In this process, Panexin- 1 channel expressed by neurons and Rac protein in microglia play an important role. Further research shows that the close contact between microglia and neurons at rest can in turn reduce the self-generating activity and visual response of the contacted neurons.

This work proves for the first time that the electrical activity of neurons can regulate the movement of resting microglia, reveals the steady-state regulation of microglia on neuronal activity, and provides a new research idea for the field of neuroimmunity.

This research work is supported by the 973 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology and major scientific research programs, the "Hundred Talents Program" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the "Pujiang Talents Program" and major basic research projects.