QBI Seminar: 'Microglia, Maleness and Marijuana: How Endocannabinoids Sculpt Brain Sex Differences'

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 18 July 2018 - Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Time:

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Professor Margaret McCarthy
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore MD 21230 USA

Title: 'Microglia, Maleness and Marijuana: How Endocannabinoids Sculpt Brain Sex Differences'

Abstract: Sex differences in the brain are established early in development and generate lasting changes in brain and behavior. Sexual differentiation of the amygdala is responsible for producing a highly conserved sex difference in juvenile rough-and-tumble play behavior. Microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, actively shape the sexual differentiation of the amygdala by engulfing and phagocytosing newborn cells destined to become astrocytes. Perinatal androgens in males increase endocannabinoid tone, which in turn increases the percentage of phagocytic microglia during the first few days of postnatal life. Ultimately, masculinization of social play by androgens is dependent upon endocannabinoid signaling during a brief developmental window, and microglial control of astrocyte number is critical to establishing the neural circuitry of this complex social behavior.