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Microglia pp 217–230Cite as

Novel Microglia Depletion Systems: A Genetic Approach Utilizing Conditional Diphtheria Toxin Receptor Expression and a Pharmacological Model Based on the Blocking of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor 1 Receptor

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2034))

Abstract

Microglia are the main population of macrophage residing in the central nervous system (CNS). Depletion experiments gave important insights into the physiology and function of microglia in healthy and diseased CNS. Ablation of microglia can be achieved by application of pharmacological or genetic tools. Here, we describe two approaches to ablate microglia: an efficient genetic model that utilizes DTRMG mouse line that has diphtheria toxin receptor (DTR) expression regulated by the promoter activity of the fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) gene, and a pharmacological model that utilizes the blocking of macrophage colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF-1R) with a blocking antibody. Both the administration of systemic diphtheria toxin or anti-CSF-1R blocking antibody result in highly efficient and reversible depletion of microglia population in the CNS, which can be easily assessed by flow cytometry.

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Acknowledgments

A.W. research is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via AW1600/10-1 and CRC/TR 128 TPA03 and TPA07. F.G. is an EMBO YIP awardee and is supported by Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) core funding as well as a Singapore National Research Foundation Senior Investigatorship (NRFI) NRF2016NRF-NRFI001-02.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Maja Kitic, Julia Bruttger & Ari Waisman

  2. Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗STAR), Singapore, Singapore

    Peter See & Florent Ginhoux

  3. Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Florent Ginhoux

Authors
  1. Maja Kitic
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  2. Peter See
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  3. Julia Bruttger
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  4. Florent Ginhoux
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  5. Ari Waisman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ari Waisman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurophysiology, Institute of Physiology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Olga Garaschuk

  2. Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health The University of Manchester, , Center for Basic and Translational Neuroscience, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark, Achucarro Center for Neuroscience IKERBASQUE Basque Foundation for Science Bilbao, Spain, Manchester, UK

    Alexei Verkhratsky

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Kitic, M., See, P., Bruttger, J., Ginhoux, F., Waisman, A. (2019). Novel Microglia Depletion Systems: A Genetic Approach Utilizing Conditional Diphtheria Toxin Receptor Expression and a Pharmacological Model Based on the Blocking of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor 1 Receptor. In: Garaschuk, O., Verkhratsky, A. (eds) Microglia. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2034. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9658-2_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9658-2_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9657-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9658-2

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