Cell Reports (Nov 2023)

Jedi-1/MEGF12-mediated phagocytosis controls the pro-neurogenic properties of microglia in the ventricular-subventricular zone

  • Vivianne Morrison,
  • Matthew Houpert,
  • Jonathan Trapani,
  • Asa Brockman,
  • Philip Kingsley,
  • Ketaki Katdare,
  • Hillary Layden,
  • Gabriela Nguena-Jones,
  • Alexandra Trevisan,
  • Kathleen Maguire-Zeiss,
  • Lawrence Marnett,
  • Gregory Bix,
  • Rebecca Ihrie,
  • Bruce Carter

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 42, no. 11
p. 113423

Abstract

Read online

Summary: Microglia are the primary phagocytes in the central nervous system and clear dead cells generated during development or disease. The phagocytic process shapes the microglia phenotype, which affects the local environment. A unique population of microglia resides in the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) of neonatal mice, but how they influence the neurogenic niche is not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that phagocytosis contributes to a pro-neurogenic microglial phenotype in the V-SVZ and that these microglia phagocytose apoptotic cells via the engulfment receptor Jedi-1. Deletion of Jedi-1 decreases apoptotic cell clearance, triggering a neuroinflammatory microglia phenotype that resembles dysfunctional microglia in neurodegeneration and aging and that reduces neural precursor proliferation via elevated interleukin-1β signaling; interleukin-1 receptor inhibition rescues precursor proliferation in vivo. Together, these results reveal a critical role for Jedi-1 in connecting microglial phagocytic activity to the maintenance of a pro-neurogenic phenotype in the developing V-SVZ.

Keywords