GSE109171
RNA sequencing of sorted microglia from NEFH-tTa/tetO-hTDP43 transgenic mouse whole spinal cord
Microglia are the resident myeloid-lineage cells in the central nervous system. Despite myriad observations of microglia associated with various tissue pathologies in degenerative disease, their function in and contributions to the pathophysiological processes remain unclear. It is particularly uncertain whether microglia act harmfully to contribute to worsening of degeneration, act beneficially to combat disease-related dysfunction, or perform functions that result in both outcomes. In this dataset, we report RNA sequencing results from mice that undergo inducible ALS/FTLD-like degeneration and subsequent recovery. The goals were to identify whether microglia show transcriptional signatures commensurate with the disease stage or if they remain constant throughout. Additionally, we sought to understand whether there was a particular transcriptional or functional signature associated with functional recovery in the mice. The latter could lead to an understanding of how microglia may be targeted to combat disease and enhance recovery following or during degeneration. Overall design: mRNA profiles from microglia sorted from whole-spinal cord taken from doxycycline (DOX) inducible NEFH-tTa/tetO-208-hTDP43 (rNLS8, (+/+)) mice. In these mice, removal of doxycycline from the diet (DOX-OFF) induces transgenic expression and degeneration and reintroduction (DOX-ON) suppresses expression and enables recovery. We report profiles from rNLS8 mice that were DOX-OFF for 2 weeks (N=8) or 6 weeks (N=7), or DOX-OFF for 6 weeks followed by DOX-ON for 1 week (N=9).  We also report profiles from control samples that include: rNLS8 mice that were DOX-ON for 6 weeks (N = 6) as asymptomatic genetic controls and WT (-/-) littermates that were DOX-OFF for 2 weeks (N=4), 6 weeks (N=1), or DOX-OFF for 6 weeks followed by 1 week DOX-ON (N=3) as asymptomatic doxycycline controls.