Table 3. Common microglia markers and reagents.
| Gene (protein) | Labeled cells | Genetic lines | Antibodies | Notes | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cx3cr1 (CX3CR1) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Fluor. reporter, Cre, CreERT | Y | Quadruple-colored PrismPlus lines available | Jung et al., 2000; Parkhurst et al., 2013; Yona et al., 2013; Tay et al., 2017 |
| Aif1 (IBA1) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Fluor. reporter | Y | Increase in IBA1 staining often used to suggest activation | Hirasawa et al., 2005 |
| Ptprc (CD45) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Fluor. reporter, Cre | Y | Yang et al., 2008 | |
| Itgam (CD11b) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | DTR/GFP line, Cre | Y | Ferron and Vacher, 2005; Stoneman et al., 2007 | |
| Tmem119 (TMEM119) | Microglia | N | Y | Protein does not label young microglia | Bennett et al., 2016 |
| Sall1 (SALL1) | Microglia | CreERT | Y | Takasato et al., 2004; Inoue et al., 2010; Buttgereit et al., 2016 | |
| Fcrls (FCRLS) | Microglia | N | Y | ||
| P2ry12 (P2RY12) | Microglia | N | Y | ||
| Adgre1 (F4/80) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Cre | Y | Schaller et al., 2002 | |
| Cd68 (CD68) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Fluor. reporter, rtTA, CreERT2 | Y | Often used as a marker of microglial activation | Pillai et al., 2009; Franke et al., 2013; Iqbal et al., 2014 |
| Cd40 (CD40) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | N | Y | ||
| Csf1r (CSF1R) | Microglia and other myeloid lineage cells | Fluor. reporter, Cre | Required for microglial survival | Sasmono et al., 2003; Deng et al., 2010; Schreiber et al., 2013; Loschko et al., 2016 |
DTR, diphtheria toxin receptor; Fluor. reporter, fluorescent reporter; N, no; Y, yes.