Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Tsirka, Styliani-Anna E | Robinson, John.
Date
2015-08-01
Keywords
Pharmaceutical sciences
Department
Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76909
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Microglia are the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS). They are involved in the maintenance of brain homeostasis not only as activated rapid responders to pathological changes in the CNS, but also when non-activated through continually extending and retracting of processes to survey the brain parenchyma and make contacts with neuronal synapses. Recent work has shown that microglia regulate the number of presynaptic terminals and glutamate receptor expression. Elimination of microglia in hippocampal brain slices results in an increase in the frequency of excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), and replenishment of microglia restores the EPSC frequency to normal levels. To asses if these changes in synaptic physiology with and without microglia have an effect on behavior we inject clodronate or PBS into the CA1 hippocampus of mice. Clodronate is internalized by macrophages and causes their selective apoptosis. Behavioral studies revealed that, compared to vehicle-injected mice, clodronate-injected mice exhibited a decrease in artificially induced grooming behavior and rate of spatial learning. Clodronate-injected mice did not exhibit any difference in activity level or rearings. Together with the previous data, our findings demonstrate that the non-activated microglia in the hippocampus modulate synaptic activity by regulating number of functional synapses and affect animal behavior. | 32 pages
Recommended Citation
Danver, Joan, "Microglia ablation in the hippocampus affects mouse behavior" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 2783.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/2783