In summary, the protective effects of microglia depletion is CX3CR1-dependent as microglia depletion in CX3CR1-KO and hCX3CR1I249/M280 mice did not alleviate retinal degeneration nor microglial morphological activation as observed in CX3CR1-WT mice. This evidence concerns the gene CX3CR1 and retinal degeneration.