articleFrontiers in Cellular NeuroscienceJan 1, 2013GOLD OA

Janus-faced microglia: beneficial and detrimental consequences of microglial phagocytosis

University of the Basque Country · Ikerbasque · +2 more institutions

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefdoajpubmed

Abstract

Microglia are the resident brain macrophages and they have been traditionally studied as orchestrators of the brain inflammatory response during infections and disease. In addition, microglia has a more benign, less explored role as the brain professional phagocytes. Phagocytosis is a term coined from the Greek to describe the receptor-mediated engulfment and degradation of dead cells and microbes. In addition, microglia phagocytoses brain-specific cargo, such as axonal and myelin debris in spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis, amyloid-β deposits in Alzheimer's disease, and supernumerary synapses in postnatal development. Common mechanisms of recognition, engulfment, and degradation of the different types…

No related works found for this paper.

Funding