Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), have an important role in the maintenance and protection of the CNS. Microglia exist in various states depending on their environment and pathological conditions, ranging from activating to a potent inflammatory state to that of an inflammation-resolving state. Although advances in single-cell sequencing technologies have deepened our understanding of microglia heterogeneity, they have also identified critical differences in gene expression between human and mouse microglia. Similarly, studies have documented several differences between in vitro and in vivo mouse microglia. To further characterize differences between microglia models, a new study used high-resolution quantitative mass spectrometry to characterize the proteome of six experimental systems commonly used to model human microglia in disease contexts. Proteomic analysis of ex vivo human microglia, ex vivo and in vitro cultured mouse microglia, in vitro cultured and xenografted human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived microglia, and the BV2 cell line revealed fundamental differences in proteome compositions, which should be considered when choosing a model system to study human microglia.
Original reference: Lloyd, A.F. et al. Cell Rep. 43, 114908 (2024)
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