microglia

Low salt intake during pregnancy in mice influences the pruning of extra synapses of the taste circuit later in life.

Studying how microglia control myelin growth and prevent its degeneration helps scientists better understand and address neurodegenerative diseases.

In FIRE mice, the lack of microglia causes myelin overgrowth and eventual degeneration, indicating that microglia may contribute to age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers discover that neurons trade protein aggregates for microglial-derived mitochondria through tunneling nanotubes. 

Clinicians and researchers teamed up to investigate how inappropriate proinflammatory mechanisms contribute to the pathogenesis of drug-refractory epilepsy.

Female postmortem brains contain more S-nitrosylated C3 proteins, likely linked to menopause, which instruct immune cells to kill neuronal synapses.

The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.

Dialing up the activity of a protein called SYK in the brain’s “janitors” could provide an avenue to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In stressful conditions, specialized protein complexes in microglia induce neurotoxic activity in astrocytes that leads to the change in behavior.

Mammals that give birth to live young may have evolved to make use of the remnants of viruses in their genomes to ward off pathogens, a study suggests. 

Research traces the evolution of a gene variant that reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, finding that it originally evolved in response to infectious bacteria.

Niacin, a form of vitamin B3 used to treat cardiovascular disease, helps immune cells in the brain fight neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s in mice models, according to recent studies. Researchers hope that human clinical trials will swiftly follow.

Researchers find a way to wipe out the brain’s immune cell corps and send in new and improved versions.

Making specific alterations to the bacterial population in a rat’s lungs either better protects the animals against multiple sclerosis–like symptoms or makes them more vulnerable, a study finds—the first demonstration of a lung-brain axis.