title: Critical data-based re-evaluation of minocycline as a putative specific microglia inhibitor.
abstract: Minocycline, a second generation broad-spectrum antibiotic, has been frequently postulated to be a "microglia inhibitor." A considerable number of publications have used minocycline as a tool and concluded, after achieving a pharmacological effect, that the effect must be due to "inhibition" of microglia. It is, however, unclear how this "inhibition" is achieved at the molecular and cellular levels. Here, we weigh the evidence whether minocycline is indeed a bona fide microglia inhibitor and discuss how data generated with minocycline should be interpreted. GLIA 2016;64:1788-1794.
authors.affiliation: Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, Paramus, New Jersey.|Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3671-5684
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.affiliation: Janssen Prevention Center, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bard
authors.affiliation: Janssen Research & Development, LLC., Neuroscience Drug Discovery, San Diego, California.
authors.forename: Anindya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.|Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Knut
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Biber
authors.affiliation: Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, Paramus, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, Paramus, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infection and Immunity, St. George's - University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eder
authors.affiliation: Gladstone Institute for Neurodegeneration, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Gwenn A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Garden
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience & Pain Research Unit, Pfizer Global Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Zoë A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida.
authors.forename: Damien D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Pearse
authors.affiliation: Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, Paramus, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Roland G W
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Staal
authors.affiliation: Gladstone Institute for Neurodegeneration, San Francisco, California.|Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Faten A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Sayed
authors.affiliation: Neuroinflammation Disease Biology Unit, Lundbeck Research USA, Paramus, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8903-3102
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Wes
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hendrikus W G M
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Boddeke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017628:Microglia / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008911:Minocycline / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D008911:Minocycline
keywords: inhibitor; lack of specificity; microglia; minocycline