title: New insights on the role of microglia in synaptic pruning in health and disease.
abstract: Recent genome-wide association studies implicate microglia in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis; however, their biological significance remains poorly understood. Synapse loss is a significant correlate of cognitive decline that serves as a critical hallmark of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases; however, mechanisms underlying synaptic vulnerability remain elusive. Emerging research on microglia function in the healthy brain is providing new insight into fundamental roles of microglia and immune molecules in brain wiring. Among their many roles, microglia prune developing synapses and regulate synaptic plasticity and function. Here, we review and discuss how this emerging work may provide new insight into how disruptions in microglia-synapse interactions could contribute to synapse loss and dysfunction, and consequently cognitive impairment, in AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Soyon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Lasse
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dissing-Olesen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: Beth.Stevens@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D017628:Microglia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*