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Microglial Uptake of Extracellular Tau by Actin-Mediated Phagocytosis

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Neuroprotection

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2761))

Abstract

Microglia are scavengers of the brain environment that clear dead cells, debris, and microbes. In Alzheimer’s disease, microglia get activated to phagocytose damaged neurons, extracellular Amyoid-β, and Tau deposits. Several Tau internalization mechanisms of microglia have been studied which include phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and receptor-mediated endocytosis. In this chapter, we have visualized microglial phagocytic structures that are actin-rich cup-like extensions, which surrounds extracellular Tau species by wide-field fluorescence and confocal microscopy. We have shown the association of filamentous actin in Tau phagocytosis along the assembly of LC-3 molecules to phagosomes. The 3-dimensional, orthogonal and gallery wise representation of these phagocytic structures provides an overview of the phagocytic mechanism of extracellular Tau by microglia.

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Chinnathambi’s lab members for their scientific suggestions on the manuscript. CHK, SD, and TQ acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, and Government of India for the fellowship. The authors acknowledge the Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), and the Institute of National Importance, Bengaluru, for their internal support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurobiology Group, Division of Biochemical Sciences, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India

    Hariharakrishnan Chidambaram, Smita Eknath Desale, Tazeen Qureshi & Subashchandrabose Chinnathambi

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India

    Hariharakrishnan Chidambaram, Smita Eknath Desale, Tazeen Qureshi & Subashchandrabose Chinnathambi

  3. Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Institute of National Importance, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Hariharakrishnan Chidambaram, Smita Eknath Desale, Tazeen Qureshi & Subashchandrabose Chinnathambi

Authors
  1. Hariharakrishnan Chidambaram
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  2. Smita Eknath Desale
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  3. Tazeen Qureshi
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  4. Subashchandrabose Chinnathambi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Subashchandrabose Chinnathambi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, USA

    Swapan K. Ray

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Chidambaram, H., Desale, S.E., Qureshi, T., Chinnathambi, S. (2024). Microglial Uptake of Extracellular Tau by Actin-Mediated Phagocytosis. In: Ray, S.K. (eds) Neuroprotection. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2761. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_16

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3661-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3662-6

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