Bone marrow transplantation causes peripheral cells to engraft the brain by an unclear mechanism. Microglia, the brain’s immune cells, lose their regenerative capacity when the bone marrow transplantation chemotherapy agent busulfan arrests their cell cycle. This causes a gradual decrease in microglial density, creating a niche for peripheral donor cells to engraft the brain and become resident macrophages.
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This is a summary of: Sailor, K. A. et al. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation chemotherapy causes microglia senescence and peripheral macrophage engraftment in the brain. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01691-9 (2022).
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Bone marrow transplantation chemotherapy disrupts regenerative brain cell populations. Nat Med 28, 452–453 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01722-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01722-5
