Hypoglycemia-activated Hypothalamic Microglia Impairs Glucose Counterregulatory Responses.

Glucose is a major fuel for the central nervous system and hypoglycemia is a significant homeostatic stressor, which elicits counterregulatory reactions. Hypothalamic metabolic- and stress-related neurons initiate these actions, however recruitment of glia in control such adaptive circuit remain unknown. Groups of fed- and fasted-, vehicle-injected, and fasted + insulin-injected male mice were compared in this study.

Impaired microglia fractalkine signaling affects stress reaction and coping style in mice.

Microglia, resident immune cells of the CNS are sensitive to various perturbations of the environment, such as stress exposure, and may be involved in translating these changes to behavior. Among the pathways mediating stress-related neuronal cues to microglia, the fractalkine-fractalkine receptor (CXCR1) signaling plays a crucial role. Using mice, in which the CXCR1 gene was deleted, we explored hormonal and behavioral responses to acute and chronic stress along with changes in hypothalamic microglia.