Human fetal microglia acquire homeostatic immune-sensing properties early indevelopment

L Kracht, M Borggrewe, S Eskandar, N Brouwer, S M Chuva de Sousa Lopes, J D Laman, S A Scherjon, J R Prins, S M Kooistra*, B J L Eggen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

124 Citations (Scopus)
365 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Microglia, immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), are important for tissue development and maintenance and are implicated in CNS disease, but we lack understanding of human fetal microglia development. Single-cell gene expression and bulk chromatin profiles of microglia at 9 to 18 gestational weeks (GWs) of human fetal development were generated. Microglia were heterogeneous at all studied GWs. Microglia start to mature during this developmental period and increasingly resemble adult microglia with CNS-surveilling properties. Chromatin accessibility increases during development with associated transcriptional networks reflective of adult microglia. Thus, during early fetal development, microglia progress toward a more mature, immune-sensing competent phenotype, and this might render the developing human CNS vulnerable to environmental perturbations during early pregnancy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)530-537
Number of pages8
JournalScience
Volume369
Issue number6503
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31-Jul-2020

Keywords

  • READ ALIGNMENT
  • RNA-SEQ
  • DIFFERENTIATION
  • MYELINOGENESIS
  • TURNOVER
  • BINDING
  • CELLS
  • PU.1
  • AGE

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Human fetal microglia acquire homeostatic immune-sensing properties early indevelopment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this