中国科学院深圳先进技术研究院李汉杰小组揭示了周围神经系统小胶质样细胞在进化过程中调节神经元体细胞的大小。2025年4月7日，国际知名学术期刊《细胞》发表了这一成果。
该研究团队展示了一个与中枢神经系统小胶质细胞共享转录组学和表观遗传学特征以及个体发生轨迹的PNS巨噬细胞群体。这个群体（称为PNS小胶质样细胞）包裹在卫星胶质细胞包膜内的神经元体，在PNS发育过程中优先与较大的神经元结合，并且通过调节体细胞扩大和轴突生长来实现神经元功能。对24种脊椎动物的系统发育调查揭示了PNS小胶质样细胞的早期起源，其存在与神经元体细胞大小（和身体大小）而不是进化距离相关。PNS小胶质样细胞在具有大周围神经元体细胞的脊椎动物中得以维持，但当神经元进化成更小的体细胞时，PNS小胶质样细胞就不存在了。他们的研究揭示了在进化和个体发生过程中调节神经元体细胞大小的中枢神经系统小胶质细胞的PNS对应体。
据悉，在中枢神经系统（CNS）中必不可少的小胶质细胞，历来被认为在外周神经系统（PNS）中不存在。
附：英文原文
Title: Peripheral nervous system microglia-like cells regulate neuronal soma size throughout evolution
Author: Zhisheng Wu, Yiheng Wang, Wei-wei Chen, Hua Sun, Xiaoyan Chen, Xiaobo Li, Zeshuai Wang, Weizheng Liang, Shuang-Yin Wang, Xuemei Luan, Yijiang Li, Shangjin Huang, Yuteng Liang, Jiaqi Zhang, Zhou-Feng Chen, Guanlin Wang, Yun Gao, Yanan Liu, Jun Wang, Zhen Liu, Peng Shi, Cirong Liu, Longbao Lv, Anli Hou, Chenglin Wu, Chen Yao, Zexuan Hong, Ji Dai, Zhonghua Lu, Fan Pan, Xin Chen, Helmut Kettenmann, Ido Amit, John R. Speakman, Yun Chen, Florent Ginhoux, Rongfeng Cui, Tianwen Huang, Hanjie Li
Issue&Volume: 2025-04-07
Abstract: Microglia, essential in the central nervous system (CNS), were historically considered absent from the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Here, we show a PNS-resident macrophage population that shares transcriptomic and epigenetic profiles as well as an ontogenetic trajectory with CNS microglia. This population (termed PNS microglia-like cells) enwraps the neuronal soma inside the satellite glial cell envelope, preferentially associates with larger neurons during PNS development, and is required for neuronal functions by regulating soma enlargement and axon growth. A phylogenetic survey of 24 vertebrates revealed an early origin of PNS microglia-like cells, whose presence is correlated with neuronal soma size (and body size) rather than evolutionary distance. Consistent with their requirement for soma enlargement, PNS microglia-like cells are maintained in vertebrates with large peripheral neuronal soma but absent when neurons evolve to have smaller soma. Our study thus reveals a PNS counterpart of CNS microglia that regulates neuronal soma size during both evolution and ontogeny.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.007
Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)00192-8