In the human central nervous system, there are tiny cells that—for most people, most of the time—provide important immune protection to the brain and spinal cord. Occasionally these microglia cells run terribly awry, ...
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People with depression have fewer active microglial cells, according to a new study by the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. What does that mean?
May 22, 2023
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A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience indicates that, contrary to common belief, the immune cells of the brain, known as microglia, are not all the same. Researchers found that a unique microglial subset with unique ...
May 15, 2023
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Situated at the intersection of the human immune system and the brain are microglia, specialized brain immune cells that play a crucial role in development and disease. Although the importance of microglia is undisputed, ...
May 11, 2023
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New University of Virginia School of Medicine insights into how the brain responds to seizures could facilitate the development of much-needed treatments for the third of patients who don't respond to existing options.
May 4, 2023
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A team from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan has uncovered new information about how microglia, the resident immune cells in the brain, colonize the brain during the embryonic stage of development. ...
Apr 12, 2023
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Each year about 1.5 million people in the U.S. survive a traumatic brain injury due to a fall, car accident, or a sports injury, which can cause immediate and long-term disability.
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Neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington disease each cause their own distinct set of symptoms, yet they share a common feature: abnormal protein aggregation. It's been unknown if overlapping ...
Mar 23, 2023
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Microglia are primary immune cells that safeguard the mammalian brain, partly by devouring or 'phagocytosing' pathogens and toxic debris. Recent genetic studies have consistently highlighted the role of microglia in the development ...
The human immunodeficiency virus HIV-1 is able to infect various tissues in humans. Once inside the cells, the virus integrates its genome into the cellular genome and establishes persistent infections. The role of the structure ...
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Microglia are a type of glial cell that are the resident macrophages of the brain and spinal cord, and thus act as the first and main form of active immune defense in the central nervous system (CNS). Microglia constitute 20% of the total glial cell population within the brain.[citation needed] Microglia (and astrocytes) are distributed in large non-overlapping regions throughout the brain and spinal cord. Microglia are constantly scavenging the CNS for damaged neurons, plaques, and infectious agents. The brain and spinal cord are considered "immune privileged" organs in that they are separated from the rest of the body by a series of endothelial cells known as the blood-brain barrier, which prevents most infections from reaching the vulnerable nervous tissue. In the case where infectious agents are directly introduced to the brain or cross the blood-brain barrier, microglial cells must react quickly to decrease inflammation and destroy the infectious agents before they damage the sensitive neural tissue. Due to the unavailability of antibodies from the rest of the body (few antibodies are small enough to cross the blood brain barrier), microglia must be able to recognize foreign bodies, swallow them, and act as antigen-presenting cells activating T-cells. Since this process must be done quickly to prevent potentially fatal damage, microglia are extremely sensitive to even small pathological changes in the CNS. They achieve this sensitivity in part by having unique potassium channels that respond to even small changes in extracellular potassium.
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