Fig. 9: plKO mice exhibit sex and genotype-specific changes across postnatal development.
From: Microglia alter sex-specific cerebellar myelination following placental hormone loss
Embryonically, placental ALLO is reduced in our plKO mouse model, resulting in unique inflammatory signatures in the male and female placenta and brain. By postnatal day 7, the cerebellar phenotype of plKO males and females begins to diverge, with females exhibiting increased engulfment of myelin components. At P15, plKO microglial phagocytosis is increased in both sexes. Despite this increase, myelin phagocytosis by microglia is impaired in males via disrupted SIRPα-CD47 signaling. In parallel, PGE2 signaling begins to diverge at P15 with associated cytokine alterations. By P30, plKO males exhibit a pro-inflammatory profile, hypermyelination, and ASD-like behavior, while females show an anti-inflammatory profile, reduced myelination, and lack similar behavioral alterations. Created in BioRender. https://BioRender.com/5gs7mkd.
