J. Neurochem. (2010) 115, 450–459.

Nucleotides act as early signals for microglial recruitment to sites of CNS injury. As microglial motility and activation can be influenced by several local factors at the site of the lesion, we investigated the effects of interferon‐gamma, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) addition to mixed glial cell cultures, on microglial migration in response to ADP, P2Y12 and P2Y1 mRNA expression as well as on the expression of an array of genes associated with the process of microglial activation. First, we demonstrated, by pharmacological inhibition and by using small interfering RNAs, that in addition to P2Y12, P2Y1 is involved in ADP‐stimulated microglial migration. The ability of specific agonists to induce Ca²⁺ mobilization further confirmed the expression of functional P2Y receptors in microglia. Then, we found that migratory capability and expression of both P2Y receptors were abrogated in microglial cells from LPS‐stimulated mixed glial cultures, while TGF‐β increased ADP‐induced migration and the expression of P2Y12 and P2Y1 receptors. Interferon‐gamma did not influence receptor expression or microglial migration. Finally, the patterns of gene expression induced in microglia by LPS or TGF‐β treatment of mixed glial cultures were clearly distinct. LPS induced a set of classical pro‐inflammatory genes, whereas TGF‐β increased the expression of genes associated with atypical microglial phenotype, namely arginase‐1 and TGF‐β genes. These results imply that both P2Y1 and P2Y12 may guide microglia toward the lesion. They also suggest that the modulation of microglial purinergic receptors expression by local factors, through direct and/or astrocyte‐mediated actions, may represent a novel mechanism affecting neuroinflammatory response.