RNA sequencing after forced turnover of adult and aged microglia

The goal of this study was to determine whether depletion and repopulation of microglia in adult and aged mice reversed age-related immune priming. Adult (2mo) and Aged (22mo) BALB/c mice were administered control diet or chow containing PLX5562, a colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor antagonist, for 3 weeks to eliminate microglia. Mice were then fed control diet for 3 weeks to allow for microglial repopulation. RNA was extracted from either FAC-sorted microglia (CD11b+/CD45int) or a 1mm coronal brain section. RNA sequencing was performed and sequences were aligned with STAR and normalized counts and differential gene expression were determined using DESeq2 in R.