Authors: Christopher Galbraith, Derek Langford, Hillary Wadsworth, Eliza White, Erin Taylor, Lauren Ford
Mentors: Jordan Yorgason
Insitution: Brigham Young University
Microglia are monocyte derived immune cells and exhibit complex signaling behavior that include phagocytic activity to threats and prolonged neuronal activity. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is a known chemoattractant for microglia, but how chemoattraction is modulated by other transmitters is not well understood. ATP is co-packaged and released with dopamine, thus the present work examines microglia morphology and motility in the context of these two transmitters. Microelectroiontophoresis and multiphoton microscopy were used in brain slices from transgenic mice to examine effects of dopamine and ATP signaling on microglia. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) transitioned the microglia from ramified to amoeboid morphology over a period of 4 hours. LPS also increased both dopamine and ATP release, as measured by fast scan cyclic voltammetry on a similar time course. Surprisingly, dopamine itself did not act as a chemoattractant to microglia, despite increasing after LPS treatment. By examining this relationship between neuronal and microglial activation we can better understand the complex circuitry of the reward pathway and immune system activation.