Microglial Rac1 is essential for experience-dependent brain plasticity and cognitive performance

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  • Renato Socodato
  • Tiago O. Almeida
  • Camila C. Portugal
  • Evelyn C.S. Santos
  • Joana Tedim-Moreira
  • João Galvão-Ferreira
  • Teresa Canedo
  • Filipa I. Baptista
  • Ana Magalhães
  • António F. Ambrósio
  • Brakebusch, Cord Herbert
  • Boris Rubinstein
  • Irina S. Moreira
  • Teresa Summavielle
  • Inês Mendes Pinto
  • João B. Relvas

Microglia, the largest population of brain immune cells, continuously interact with synapses to maintain brain homeostasis. In this study, we use conditional cell-specific gene targeting in mice with multi-omics approaches and demonstrate that the RhoGTPase Rac1 is an essential requirement for microglia to sense and interpret the brain microenvironment. This is crucial for microglia-synapse crosstalk that drives experience-dependent plasticity, a fundamental brain property impaired in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Phosphoproteomics profiling detects a large modulation of RhoGTPase signaling, predominantly of Rac1, in microglia of mice exposed to an environmental enrichment protocol known to induce experience-dependent brain plasticity and cognitive performance. Ablation of microglial Rac1 affects pathways involved in microglia-synapse communication, disrupts experience-dependent synaptic remodeling, and blocks the gains in learning, memory, and sociability induced by environmental enrichment. Our results reveal microglial Rac1 as a central regulator of pathways involved in the microglia-synapse crosstalk required for experience-dependent synaptic plasticity and cognitive performance.

Original languageEnglish
Article number113447
JournalCell Reports
Volume42
Issue number12
Number of pages28
ISSN2211-1247
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

    Research areas

  • cognition, CP: Cell biology, CP: Neuroscience, environmental enrichment, glia-neuron interactions, microglia, proteomics, Rac1, RhoGTPases, RNAseq, synaptic plasticity

ID: 374454604