ArticleMolecular psychiatry2021
Microglia-specific knock-down of Bmal1 improves memory and protects mice from high fat diet-induced obesity.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
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40 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ablation of microglial estrogen receptor alpha predisposes male mice to diet-induced obesity.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2026Article
- Life Cycle and Circadian Rhythms in Central Resident Immunity and Neuropsychiatric Pathology.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Temporal Vulnerability of the Blood-Brain Interface in Stroke: Molecular Mechanisms of Circadian Dynamics, Inflammation, and Aging.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Morphological changes in microglia in the mouse brain during postnatal development and obesity.Histology and histopathology · 2026Article
- Article
- Core Circadian Protein BMAL1: Implication for Nervous System Functioning and Its Diseases.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Circadian Clock Deregulation and Metabolic Reprogramming: A System Biology Approach to Tissue-Specific Redox Signaling and Disease Development.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Sex-specific attenuation of constant light-induced memory impairment and Clock gene expression in brain in hepatic Npas2 knockout mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Antagonizing Il10 and Il4 signaling via intracerebral decoy receptor expression attenuates Aβ accumulation.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Time of day dependent reduction in stroke infarct volume by the Reverb agonist SR9009 in mice.Experimental neurology · 2025Article
- NSUN2-Mediated RNA 5-Methylcytosine Modification of PTEN Regulates Cognitive Impairments of Mice with Sleep Deprivation and Autophagy Through PI3K/AKT Signaling.Neuromolecular medicine · 2025Article
- Circadian patterns of heart rate variability in fetal sheep after hypoxia-ischaemia: A biomarker of evolving brain injury.The Journal of physiology · 2024Article
- Circadian Control of the Response of Macrophages to Plasmodium Spp.-Infected Red Blood Cells.ImmunoHorizons · 2024Article
- Microglial Ffar4 deficiency promotes cognitive impairment in the context of metabolic syndrome.Science advances · 2024Article
- Microglia in Central Control of Metabolism.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Review
- Microglia in physiological conditions and the importance of understanding their homeostatic functions in the arcuate nucleus.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Bmal1 haploinsufficiency impairs fear memory and modulates neuroinflammation via the 5-HT2C receptor.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Circadian clock regulator Bmal1 gates axon regeneration via Tet3 epigenetics in mouse sensory neurons.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Circadian clock protein BMAL1 broadly influences autophagy and endolysosomal function in astrocytes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microglia play a critical role in maintaining neural function. While microglial activity follows a circadian rhythm, it is not clear how this intrinsic clock relates to their function, especially in stimulated conditions such as in the control of systemic energy homeostasis or memory formation. In this study, we found that microglia-specific knock-down of the core clock gene, Bmal1, resulted in increased microglial phagocytosis in mice subjected to high-fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic stress and likewise among mice engaged in critical cognitive processes. Enhanced microglial phagocytosis was associated with significant retention of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-immunoreactivity in the mediobasal hypothalamus in mice on a HFD as well as the formation of mature spines in the hippocampus during the learning process. This response ultimately protected mice from HFD-induced obesity and resulted in improved performance on memory tests. We conclude that loss of the rigorous control implemented by the intrinsic clock machinery increases the extent to which microglial phagocytosis can be triggered by neighboring neurons under metabolic stress or during memory formation. Taken together, microglial responses associated with loss of Bmal1 serve to ensure a healthier microenvironment for neighboring neurons in the setting of an adaptive response. Thus, microglial Bmal1 may be an important therapeutic target for metabolic and cognitive disorders with relevance to psychiatric disease.
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