Margaret L. Hibbs

Chronic neuroinflammation and glial activation are associated with the development of many neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychological disorders. Recent evidence suggests that the protein tyrosine kinase Lyn and the lipid phosphatase SH2 domain-containing inositol 5′ phosphatase-1 (SHIP-1) regulate neuroimmunological responses, but their homeostatic roles remain unclear. The current study investigated the roles of Lyn and SHIP-1 in microglial responses in the steady-state adult mouse brain. Young adult Lyn−/− and SHIP-1−/− mice underwent a series of neurobehavior tests and postmortem brain analyses. The microglial phenotype and activation state were examined by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry, and neuroimmune responses were assessed using gene expression analysis. Lyn−/− mice had an unaltered behavioral phenotype, neuroimmune response, and microglial phenotype, while SHIP-1−/− mice demonstrated reduced explorative activity and exhibited microglia with elevated activation markers but reduced granularity. In addition, expression of several neuroinflammatory genes was increased in SHIP-1−/− mice. In response to LPS stimulation ex vivo, the microglia from both Lyn−/− and SHIP-1−/− showed evidence of hyper-activity with augmented TNF-α production. Together, these findings demonstrate that both Lyn and SHIP-1 have the propensity to control microglial responses, but only SHIP-1 regulates neuroinflammation and microglial activation in the steady-state adult brain, while Lyn activity appears dispensable for maintaining brain homeostasis.