Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury
Secondary injury following spinal cord injury is primarily characterized by a complex inflammatory response, with resident microglia and infiltrating macrophages playing pivotal roles. While previous studies have grouped these two cell types together based on similarities in structure and function,...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Neural Regeneration Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00063 |
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| author | Hu-Yao Zhou Xia Wang Yi Li Duan Wang Xuan-Zi Zhou Nong Xiao Guo-Xing Li Gang Li |
| author_facet | Hu-Yao Zhou Xia Wang Yi Li Duan Wang Xuan-Zi Zhou Nong Xiao Guo-Xing Li Gang Li |
| author_sort | Hu-Yao Zhou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Secondary injury following spinal cord injury is primarily characterized by a complex inflammatory response, with resident microglia and infiltrating macrophages playing pivotal roles. While previous studies have grouped these two cell types together based on similarities in structure and function, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that microglia and macrophages exhibit differences in structure and function and have different effects on disease processes. In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to identify the distinct evolutionary paths of microglia and macrophages following spinal cord injury. Our results showed that microglia were activated to a pro-inflammatory phenotype immediately after spinal cord injury, gradually transforming to an anti-inflammatory steady state phenotype as the disease progressed. Regarding macrophages, our findings highlighted abundant communication with other cells, including fibroblasts and neurons. Both pro-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of macrophages were also identified; the pro-inflammatory effect may be related to integrin β2 (Itgb2) and the neuroprotective effect may be related to the oncostatin M pathway. These findings were validated by in vivo experiments. This research underscores differences in the cellular dynamics of microglia and macrophages following spinal cord injury, and may offer new perspectives on inflammatory mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e10c798bcb5548f4b652c9eec2c95c5b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1673-5374 1876-7958 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neural Regeneration Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-e10c798bcb5548f4b652c9eec2c95c5b2025-02-06T09:58:39ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsNeural Regeneration Research1673-53741876-79582025-12-0120123606361910.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00063Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injuryHu-Yao ZhouXia WangYi LiDuan WangXuan-Zi ZhouNong XiaoGuo-Xing LiGang LiSecondary injury following spinal cord injury is primarily characterized by a complex inflammatory response, with resident microglia and infiltrating macrophages playing pivotal roles. While previous studies have grouped these two cell types together based on similarities in structure and function, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that microglia and macrophages exhibit differences in structure and function and have different effects on disease processes. In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics to identify the distinct evolutionary paths of microglia and macrophages following spinal cord injury. Our results showed that microglia were activated to a pro-inflammatory phenotype immediately after spinal cord injury, gradually transforming to an anti-inflammatory steady state phenotype as the disease progressed. Regarding macrophages, our findings highlighted abundant communication with other cells, including fibroblasts and neurons. Both pro-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of macrophages were also identified; the pro-inflammatory effect may be related to integrin β2 (Itgb2) and the neuroprotective effect may be related to the oncostatin M pathway. These findings were validated by in vivo experiments. This research underscores differences in the cellular dynamics of microglia and macrophages following spinal cord injury, and may offer new perspectives on inflammatory mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00063acute inflammationbioinformatics analysisfibroblastintegrin β2ligand–receptor interactionneuroinflammationoncostatin msingle-cell rna sequencingspatial transcriptomicsspinal cord injury |
| spellingShingle | Hu-Yao Zhou Xia Wang Yi Li Duan Wang Xuan-Zi Zhou Nong Xiao Guo-Xing Li Gang Li Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury Neural Regeneration Research acute inflammation bioinformatics analysis fibroblast integrin β2 ligand–receptor interaction neuroinflammation oncostatin m single-cell rna sequencing spatial transcriptomics spinal cord injury |
| title | Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| title_full | Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| title_fullStr | Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| title_short | Dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| title_sort | dynamic development of microglia and macrophages after spinal cord injury |
| topic | acute inflammation bioinformatics analysis fibroblast integrin β2 ligand–receptor interaction neuroinflammation oncostatin m single-cell rna sequencing spatial transcriptomics spinal cord injury |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/NRR.NRR-D-24-00063 |
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