D. Sieger et al., “Long-range Ca2+ waves transmit brain-damage signals to microglia,” Dev Cell, 22:1138-48, 2012.
When a brain injury occurs, microglia—phagocytic cells that reside in the central nervous system—flock to the site to clear injured neurons and allow tissue regeneration. Monitoring the process in vivo in the brains of zebrafish embryos, Francesca Peri at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and colleagues observed that calcium waves are responsible for carrying the ATP signal that draws microglia to the injury site.
“How microglia rapidly recognize damaged cells located at a distance has remained elusive,” says neuroscientist Samuel David at McGill University, who was not involved in the study, in an e-mail. So Peri and colleagues used a laser cutting device mounted to a confocal spinning-disk microscope to inflict precise, reproducible damage to the brains of larval zebrafish and filmed how microglia, involved in brain healing, reacted.
It was ...
