Joana R Guedes, Pedro A Ferreira, Jéssica Costa, Mariana Laranjo, Maria J Pinto, Tiago Reis, Ana Maria Cardoso, Carolina Lebre, Maria Casquinha, Marcos Gomes, Viktoriya Shkatova, Marta Pereira, Nuno Beltrão, Nicholas Hanuscheck, Andrew D Greenhalgh, Christina Francisca Vogelaar, Ana Luísa Carvalho, Frauke Zipp, Ana Luísa Cardoso, João Peça
Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is a type 2 cytokine with pleiotropic functions in adaptive immunity, allergies, and cognitive processes. Here, we show that low levels of IL-4 in the early postnatal stage delineate a critical period in which microglia extensively prune cerebellar neurons. Elevating the levels of this cytokine via peripheral injection, or using a mouse model of allergic asthma, leads to defective pruning, permanent increase in cerebellar granule cells, and circuit alterations. These animals also show a hyperkinetic and impulsive-like phenotype, reminiscent of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)...
November 1, 2023: Neuron