Microglial phenotype: is the commitment reversible?
Microglia, the standby cells for immune defense in the CNS, have a reputation for exacerbating the neural damage that occurs in neurodegenerative diseases. However, research over the past few years has established that microglia do not constitute a single, uniform cell population, but rather comprise a family of cells with diverse phenotypes--some that are beneficial and others that the CNS can barely tolerate and that are therefore destructive. This finding raised several questions. What instructs microglia to acquire a particular phenotype, and how do these phenotypes differ? How committed are microglia to a specific phenotype? Can destructive microglia become protective, and can protective microglia retain their beneficial phenotype even when they encounter a destructive environment? Here, we address these questions, and the background of research that elicited them.
Schwartz
Michal
M
The Weizmann Institute of Science, POB 26, Rehovot, 76100, Israel. michal.schwartz@weizmann.ac.il
Butovsky
Oleg
O
Brück
Wolfgang
W
Hanisch
Uwe-Karsten
UK
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D017628:Microglia / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype