Skip to main content

Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Microglia (hiPSC-Microglia)

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2454))

Abstract

Microglia are crucial mediators of brain development and homeostasis. In recent years, it has been additionally suggested that modulation of microglial function may prove to be a useful therapeutic technique in many neurological contexts. However, before we can develop therapeutics, we need to better understand homeostatic microglial processes at the cellular and molecular level. For this reason, it has become crucial to develop better models to study human microglia which are known to be quite distinct from murine models. Here we provide a detailed method to differentiate homeostatic microglia from human pluripotent cells. Additionally, due to the innate sensitivity of these immune cells, we have provided detailed notes for best practices of handling cultured microglia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Andrews SJ, Fulton-Howard B, Goate A (2020) Interpretation of risk loci from genome-wide association studies of Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurol 19(4):326–335. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(19)30435-1

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Efthymiou AG, Goate AM (2017) Late onset Alzheimer’s disease genetics implicates microglial pathways in disease risk. Mol Neurodegener 12(1):43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13024-017-0184-x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Cowan M, Petri WA (2018) Microglia: immune regulators of neurodevelopment. Front Immunol 9:2576. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02576

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Abud EM et al (2017) iPSC-derived human microglia-like cells to study neurological diseases. Neuron 94(2):278–293.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.042

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Douvaras P et al (2017) Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to microglia. Stem Cell Reports 8(6):1516–1524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.04.023

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Haenseler W, Rajendran L (2019) Concise review: modelling neurodegenerative diseases with human pluripotent stem cell derived microglia. Stem Cells 37(6):724–730. https://doi.org/10.1002/stem.2995

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. McQuade A, Coburn M, Tu CH, Hasselmann J, Davtyan H, Blurton-Jones M (2018) Development and validation of a simplified method to generate human microglia from pluripotent stem cells. Mol Neurodegener 13(1):67. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13024-018-0297-x

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Muffat J et al (2016) Efficient derivation of microglia-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells. Nat Med 22(11):1358–1367. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4189

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Pandya H et al (2017) Differentiation of human and murine induced pluripotent stem cells to microglia-like cells. Nat Neurosci 20(5):753–759. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4534

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Takata K et al (2017) Induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-derived primitive macrophages provide a platform for modeling tissue-resident macrophage differentiation and function. Immunity 47(1):183–198.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2017.06.017

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Prinz M, Erny D, Hagemeyer N (2017) Ontogeny and homeostasis of CNS myeloid cells. Nat Immunol 18(4):385–392. https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3703

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathew Blurton-Jones .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

McQuade, A., Blurton-Jones, M. (2021). Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Microglia (hiPSC-Microglia). In: Nagy, A., Turksen, K. (eds) Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2454. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2021_429

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2021_429

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2118-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2119-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics