A novel role for microglia in minimizing excitotoxicity

BMC Biology

Commentary

Ben A Barres¹  Mariko L Howe¹ 

[1] Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 94305, Stanford, CA, USA;

关键词: NMDA;    Rabies;    Central Nervous System Damage;    Clodronate Liposome;    Organotypic Hippocampal Slice Culture;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1741-7007-10-7

 received in 2012-01-27, accepted in 2012-01-31,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Microglia are the abundant, resident myeloid cells of the central nervous system (CNS) that become rapidly activated in response to injury or inflammation. While most studies of microglia focus on this phenomenon, little is known about the function of 'resting' microglia, which possess fine, branching cellular processes. Biber and colleagues, in a recent paper in Journal of Neuroinflammation, report that ramified microglia can limit excitotoxicity, an important insight for understanding mechanisms that limit neuron death in CNS disease.See research articlehttp://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/9/1/27.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Howe and Barres; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012