Isolation of Hypothalamic Microglia from Freshly Perfused Adult Mouse Brain by Magnetic-Activated Cell Sorting

Our goal is to explore how nutrition affects brain function with an emphasis on the interaction between microglia and neurons. And we specifically focus on the hypothalamus, which is a key structure in the control of feeding behavior and energy balance. Most studies utilize genic mice to specifically target microglial processes and then combining this approach to histological or metabolic observations, but at the whole structural level, but we'll still have to achieve the cell level resolution.

Isolating microglia from small brain structures is very challenging, and our protocol ensures a high yield and purity of valuable cells, which then allows for the study of the effect of the diet on microglial metabolism and function. Our protocol allows us to achieve relatively high purity and yield in a short period of time, and with lots of viable cells, even for small structures like the hypothalamus. Our research explores the role of microglia neuron communication in the resilience or vulnerability to develop metabolic conditions, and we know that individuals are extremely diverse in the way that respond to diet.

And our data suggests that microglia could play a role in this diversity.