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S005-1

Translational Research Focusing on Human Microglia - How Do Microglia
Modulate Our Mind?

Shigenobu Kanba1, Takahiro A. Kato2

1Kyushu University, Japan 2 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu
University, Fukuoka, Japan; Innovation Center for Medical Redox Navigation, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

Content: Microglia have been implicated in various neurological and psychiatric disorders in rodent
and human PET and postmortem studies. However, the dynamic actions of microglia in the living
human brain have not been clarified due to a lack of studies dealing with in situ human microglia.,
because of the technical and ethical issues.
In this symposium, we introduce two novel translational research approaches focusing on human
microglia. (1) How microglial activities contribute to human psychosocial aspects has not been well
clarified. Our recent neuroeconomic investigations with young healthy male volunteers using
minocycline, an antibiotic with inhibitory effects on microglial activation, suggest that microglia
may unconsciously modulate human social behaviors as "noise" under psychosocial stress (Watabe et
al. Sci Rep 2013). (2) We have recently developed a novel technique for developing induced
microglia-like (iMG) cells from human peripheral blood cells. An optimized cocktail of cytokines,
GM-CSF and IL-34, converted human monocytes into iMG cells within 14 days. The iMG cells have
microglial characterizations; expressing markers, forming a ramified morphology, and phagocytic
activity with various cytokine releases. Clinical utilities were confirmed by iMG cells from a patient
of Nasu-Hakola disease (Ohgidani et al. Sci Rep 2014).
We believe that these novel translational approach will open the door to explore various unknown
dynamic aspects of human microglia in brain diseases, especially neuropsychiatric disorders.

Reference: Watabe M, Kato TA, Tsuboi S, et al.: Minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, reduces ‘honey
trap’ risk in human economic exchange. Scientific Reports, 3, 1685, 2013
Ohgidani M, Kato TA, Setoyama D, et al.: Direct induction of ramified microglia-like cells from
human monocytes: Dynamic microglial dysfunction in Nasu-Hakola disease. Scientific Reports, 4,
4957, 2014
Kato TA, Watabe M, Kanba S: Neuron-glia interaction as a possible glue to translate the mind-brain
gap: A novel multi-dimensional approach toward psychology and psychiatry. Frontiers in Psychiatry,
4, 139, 2013