TABLE 2.
Studies of microglial activation and related neuronal phenotypes in SCZ animal models.
| Type of model | Intervention/ treatment |
Observation period | Neuronal phenotypes | Microglial (MG) phenotypes | Behavioral phenotypes | Microglia-neuron interaction | References |
| MIA (mouse) | PolyI:C injections at E9 (20 mg/kg) | P30 | Not reported | ↑ Iba1+ MG (hippocampus, striatum), ↓ MG processes and branches |
Not reported | Not reported | Juckel et al., 2011 |
| MIA (mouse) | PolyI:C injections at E12/15 (10 mg/kg) | E18/P10 | Not reported | ↑IL-6 expression in E18 MG, ↑ tip velocity in E18 MG, ↓ tip velocity in postnatal MG |
↑ social anxiety | Not reported | Ozaki et al., 2020 |
| MIA (rat) | PolyI:C injections at E15 (4 mg/kg) | P56/90/180 | Not reported | ↑OX-42 immunoreactivity, MG density, ↓arborization (corpus callosum, hippocampus, thalamus most affected) | ↓ basal acoustic startle responce, ↓ spontaneous locomotor activity | Not reported | Van den Eynde et al., 2014 |
| MIA (mouse) | PolyI:C injections at gestatational day 9 (5 mg/kg) |
P35/84 (PPI), P40/90 (IHC) |
↓ presynaptic SYN1 and bassoon density (hippocampus), ↓ postsynaptic PSD95, SynGap |
– Iba1 + MG, branching, soma area, CD68+ MG unaltered | Adult-onset PPI deficits | Not reported | Giovanoli et al., 2016 |
| MIA (mouse) | PolyI:C injections at gestational day 12 (5mg/kg) + Minocycline injections from P21-56 (40 mg/kg) | P56 | ↓ PV protein levels (hippocampus*, mPFC), ↓ PV+ cells (DG, CA1), ↓ mIPSC frequency*, ↑γ-oscillations* | ↑ IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6 (hippocampus)*, ↑ Iba+ MG (hippocampus), ↑ MG ramification* | ↑ hyperactivity*, ↓ PPI*, ↓ social interaction, ↓ spatial memory* | Minocycline treatment → anti-inflammatory effects on MG → allevation of neuronal phenotypes |
Xia et al., 2020 *= improved by minocycline treatment |
| Genetic (mouse) | Overexpression of human C4A/C4B | P10, P40, P180 | ↓ synapse numbers in high C4A copy number mice (retinogeniculate system) | ↑ engulfment of synaptic inputs (P10), ↑ expression of activation marker CD68 (P10, P40) in high C4A copy number mice | ↑ anxiety, ↓ social behavior, spatial working memory | Activated microglia in high C4A mice → excessive pruning of synaptic terminals | Yilmaz et al., 2021 |