Detecting the origin of immune cells in the brain

Researchers at Mount Sinai discovered microglia cells (microglia), the immune cells in the brain that were formed immediately after conception.

Immune cells in the brain are formed after conception. (Illustration).

It was previously thought that microglia was created at the same time as macrophages - immune cells that developed at birth. This groundbreaking finding could lead to treatments for brain degeneration such as Alzheimer's and other diseases such as hard bone disease. Microglia plays an important role in the development of brain diseases, defective microglia will produce inflammatory molecules that contribute to the development of brain degenerative disease.

Dr Miriam Merad, the study's lead author, said: ' This is really a surprising discovery. We found that progenitor cells developed into microglia within a short time after conception. So microglia is present from the infancy . "

Theoretically we can create microglia from embryonic stem cells to treat brain disease due to microglia defect. This is one of the important reasons for studying embryonic stem cells.

Initially researchers in the precursor cell transplantation in the blood, which is the precursor to all macrophages from newborn mice together. The results show that microglia is made up of pre-embryonic life.

Next, they used a mouse model with a fluorescence biosensor to determine in the infancy when the precursor turns into microglia. As a result, microglia arises about seven days after conception.

Dr. Merad said ' In the future we need to continue to study the development of precursor cells and microglia, determine the role of microglia in brain diseases so that we can introduce new treatments' .