Fig. 1

Human and mouse microglia sense mechanical forces through PIEZO1 receptor. A Piezo1 gene expression in murine trigeminal neurons, astrocytes, microglia (MG) and microglial cell line (BV2); and in human microglial cell line (SV40) and iPSC-derived microglia (iMGL) analyzed by RT-qPCR (N = 3–4). B PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 gene expression in human iMGLs, fetal and adult MG, iPSCs, induced hematopoietic progenitor cells (iHPCs), CD14 + and CD16 + monocytes (CD14M, CD16M), and dendritic cells (DC) obtained from human RNA-seq datasets [26, 37]. N = 3–6. Immunostaining of PIEZO1 (green) and nuclei DAPI (blue) in C iMGLs and D MGs. E Schematic for PIEZO1 activation by mechanical fluid puff, small molecule agonist Yoda1, and hypo-osmotic solution (HOS). Ca²⁺ transients of single F iMGLs and G MGs evoked by 2-min applications of HOS. H Ca²⁺ transients in iMGLs induced by mechanical fluid puffs (500 ms, 30 psi) followed with chemical activation by 0.1 µM Yoda1. n = 7 coverslips. Dose–response curves for Yoda1 as I fold change (fc) to maximum Ca²⁺ amplitudes normalized to baseline (F/F0), J and as a percentage of responsive cells. Dashed line, maximum response; dotted line, 5 µM. n = 2–14 with N = 2–5. K Ca²⁺ transients of 0.3 µM and 5 µM Yoda1 in single iMGLs. L Maximum Ca²⁺ amplitudes as % compared to vehicle control (VEH) after 1 h preincubation with 5 µM GsMTtx4 inhibitor followed by 1-min Yoda1 application (n = 4). Dose–response curves for M normalized maximum amplitudes and N percentage of responsive mouse MG (N = 6). O Ca²⁺ transients of 1 µM and 5 µM Yoda1 in single mouse MGs. Unpaired t-test, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05; data repeated in n = experiments with N biological replicates. Data as mean ± SEM. See also Additional file 1: Fig. S1 and Table 1