PUBLICATION

Meningeal lymphatic endothelial cells fulfill scavenger endothelial cell function and cooperate with microglia in waste removal from the brain

Authors
Huisman, Y., Uphoff, K., Berger, M., Dobrindt, U., Schelhaas, M., Zobel, T., Bussmann, J., van Impel, A., Schulte-Merker, S.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210907-11
Date
2021
Source
Glia   70(1): 35-49 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Bussmann, Jeroen, Schulte-Merker, Stefan, van Impel, Andreas
Keywords
brain lymphatic endothelial cells, macromolecular uptake, meningeal lymphatic endothelial cells, microglia, scavenger endothelial cells, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Brain/metabolism
  • Endothelial Cells*/metabolism
  • Meninges
  • Microglia*
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
34487573 Full text @ Glia
Abstract
Brain lymphatic endothelial cells (BLECs) constitute a group of loosely connected endothelial cells that reside within the meningeal layer of the zebrafish brain without forming a vascular tubular system. BLECs have been shown to readily endocytose extracellular cargo molecules from the brain parenchyma, however, their functional relevance in relation to microglia remains enigmatic. We here compare their functional uptake efficiency for several macromolecules and bacterial components with microglia in a qualitative and quantitative manner in 5-day-old zebrafish embryos. We find BLECs to be significantly more effective in the uptake of proteins, polysaccharides and virus particles as compared to microglia, while larger particles like bacteria are only ingested by microglia but not by BLECs, implying a clear distribution of tasks between the two cell types in the brain area. In addition, we compare BLECs to the recently discovered scavenger endothelial cells (SECs) of the cardinal vein and find them to accept an identical set of substrate molecules. Our data identifies BLECs as the first brain-associated SEC population in vertebrates, and demonstrates that BLECs cooperate with microglia to remove particle waste from the brain.
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