Cited 25 times since 2018 (3.9 per year) source: EuropePMC International journal of molecular sciences, Volume 19, Issue 12, 19 3 2018, Pages E4124 Medicinal Leech CNS as a Model for Exosome Studies in the Crosstalk between Microglia and Neurons. Raffo-Romero A, Arab T, Al-Amri IS, Le Marrec-Croq F, Van Camp C, Lemaire Q, Salzet M, Vizioli J, Sautiere PE, Lefebvre C
In healthy or pathological brains, the neuroinflammatory state is supported by a strong communication involving microglia and neurons. Recent studies indicate that extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes and microvesicles, play a key role in the physiological interactions between cells allowing central nervous system (CNS) development and/or integrity. The present report used medicinal leech CNS to investigate microglia/neuron crosstalk from ex vivo approaches as well as primary cultures. The results demonstrated a large production of exosomes from microglia. Their incubation to primary neuronal cultures showed a strong interaction with neurites. In addition, neurite outgrowth assays demonstrated microglia exosomes to exhibit significant neurotrophic activities using at least a Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF-β) family member, called nGDF (nervous Growth/Differentiation Factor). Of interest, the results also showed an EV-mediated dialog between leech microglia and rat cells highlighting this communication to be more a matter of molecules than of species. Taken together, the present report brings a new insight into the microglia/neuron crosstalk in CNS and would help deciphering the molecular evolution of such a cell communication in brain.
