Authors: Michelucci A, Mittelbronn M, Gomez-Nicola D

ABSTRACT

Microglia are essential for the development and function of the adult brain. Their ontogeny, together with the absence of turnover from the periphery and the singular environment of the central nervous system (CNS), makes microglia a unique cell population compared with other tissue macrophages. Supporting this notion, recent transcriptional studies have revealed that microglia display specific gene expression signatures that are clearly distinct from other brain and peripheral immune cell populations in the healthy and diseased CNS.

Frontiers in Immunology. Switzerland