Healthy brain aging modifies microglial calcium signaling in vivo

Abstract

Brain aging is characterized by a chronic, low-grade inflammatory state, promoting deficits in cognition and the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Malfunction of microglia, the brain-resident immune cells, was suggested to play a critical role in neuroinflammation, but the mechanisms underlying this malfunctional phenotype remain unclear. Specifically, the age- related changes in microglial Ca 2+ signaling, known to be linked to its executive functions, are not well understood. Here, using in vivo two-photon imaging, we characterize intracellular Ca 2+ signaling and process extension of cortical microglia in young adult (2-4-month-old), middle-aged (9-11-month-old), and old (18-21-month-old) mice. Our data revealed a complex and nonlinear dependency of the properties of intracellular Ca 2+ signals on an animal’s age. While the fraction of cells displaying spontaneous Ca 2+ transients progressively increased with age, the frequencies and durations of the spontaneous Ca 2+ transients followed a bell-shaped relationship, with the most frequent and largest Ca 2+ transients seen in middle-aged mice. Moreover, in old mice microglial processes extending toward an ATP source moved faster but in a more disorganized manner, compared to young adult mice. Altogether, these findings identify two distinct phenotypes of aging microglia: a reactive phenotype, abundantly present in middle-aged animals, and a dysfunctional/senescent phenotype ubiquitous in old mice.