Neutrophils self-organise during the initiation of inflammatory responses

New study by the Sarris lab in Current Biology describes how close communication of neutrophils inside clusters organises their migration to sites of tissue damage and contributes to local defence

A new study by the Sarris lab is out in Current Biology showing how neutrophils self-organise their gathering at sites of tissue damage during the initiation of inflammatory responses. The team developed new zebrafish models and live imaging techniques to track neutrophil inflammatory signalling and the role of these dynamics in wound defence from infection. They found that frontline neutrophils clustering at sites of tissue damage centrally coordinate damage sensing and the escalation of the migratory response through connexin channels and cooperative calcium alarm signals. This close communication is important for assembling dense neutrophil swarms, which protect the breached tissue barrier from opportunistic bacterial infection. You can follow Milka's lab on Twitter to read more about the new paper.

Reference: Neutrophil Swarming in Damaged Tissue Is Orchestrated by Connexins and Cooperative Calcium Alarm Signal, Hugo Poplimont, Antonios Georgantzoglou, Morgane Boulch, Caroline Coombs, Foteini Papaleonidopoulou, Milka Sarris, Current Biology, 2020, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.05.030