TY - JOUR
T1 - Microglia at the Centre of Brain Research
T2 - Accomplishments and Challenges for the Future
AU - Soares, Nuno L.
AU - Vieira, Helena L.A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is financed by national funds from FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences—UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy—i4HB, and in the framework of FCT-ANR/NEUNMC/0022/2012 Grant and PTDC/MEC-NEU/28750/2017 Grant; and FCT provided individual financial support NLS (PD/BD/127819/2016).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Microglia are the immune guardians of the central nervous system (CNS), with critical functions in development, maintenance of homeostatic tissue balance, injury and repair. For a long time considered a forgotten ‘third element’ with basic phagocytic functions, a recent surge in interest, accompanied by technological progress, has demonstrated that these distinct myeloid cells have a wide-ranging importance for brain function. This review reports microglial origins, development, and function in the healthy brain. Moreover, it also targets microglia dysfunction and how it contributes to the progression of several neurological disorders, focusing on particular molecular mechanisms and whether these may present themselves as opportunities for novel, microglia-targeted therapeutic approaches, an ever-enticing prospect. Finally, as it has been recently celebrated 100 years of microglia research, the review highlights key landmarks from the past century and looked into the future. Many challenging problems have arisen, thus it points out some of the most pressing questions and experimental challenges for the ensuing century.
AB - Microglia are the immune guardians of the central nervous system (CNS), with critical functions in development, maintenance of homeostatic tissue balance, injury and repair. For a long time considered a forgotten ‘third element’ with basic phagocytic functions, a recent surge in interest, accompanied by technological progress, has demonstrated that these distinct myeloid cells have a wide-ranging importance for brain function. This review reports microglial origins, development, and function in the healthy brain. Moreover, it also targets microglia dysfunction and how it contributes to the progression of several neurological disorders, focusing on particular molecular mechanisms and whether these may present themselves as opportunities for novel, microglia-targeted therapeutic approaches, an ever-enticing prospect. Finally, as it has been recently celebrated 100 years of microglia research, the review highlights key landmarks from the past century and looked into the future. Many challenging problems have arisen, thus it points out some of the most pressing questions and experimental challenges for the ensuing century.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116208385&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11064-021-03456-1
DO - 10.1007/s11064-021-03456-1
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34586585
AN - SCOPUS:85116208385
SN - 0364-3190
VL - 47
SP - 218
EP - 233
JO - Neurochemical Research
JF - Neurochemical Research
ER -