Single-Cell Mapping of Brain Myeloid Cell Subsets Reveals Key Transcriptomic Changes Favoring Neuroplasticity after Ischemic Stroke

Interactions between brain-resident and periph-eral infiltrated immune cells are thought to contribute to neuroplasticity after cerebral ischemia.However,con-ventional bulk sequencing makes it challenging to depict this complex immune network.Using single-cell RNA sequencing,we mapped compositional and transcriptional features of peri-infarct immune cells.Microglia were the predominant cell type in the peri-infarct region,displaying a more diverse activation pattern than the typical pro-and anti-inflammatory state,with axon tract-associated micro-glia(ATMs)being associated with neuronal regeneration.Trajectory inference suggested that infiltrated monocyte-derived macrophages(MDMs)exhibited a gradual fate trajectory transition to activated MDMs.Inter-cellular crosstalk between MDMs and microglia orchestrated anti-inflammatory and repair-promoting microglia phenotypes and promoted post-stroke neurogenesis,with SOX2 and related Akt/CREB signaling as the underlying mechanisms.This description of the brain's immune landscape and its relationship with neurogenesis provides new insight into promoting neural repair by regulating neuroinflammatory responses.