{"title":"Molecular mechanisms of microglial activation","authors":"Jürgen Zielasek, Hans-Peter Hartung","doi":"10.1016/0960-5428(96)00017-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Microglial cells are brain macrophages which serve specific functions in the defense of the central nervous system (CNS) against microorganisms, the removal of tissue debris in neurodegenerative diseases or during normal development, and in autoimmune inflammatory disorders of the brain. In cultured microglial cells, several soluble inflammatory mediators such as cytokines and bacterial products like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were demonstrated to induce a wide range of microglial activities, e.g. increased phagocytosis, chemotaxis, secretion of cytokines, activation of the respiratory burst and induction of nitric oxide synthase. Since heightened microglial activation was shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of experimental inflammatory CNS disorders, understanding the molecular mechanisms of microglial activation may lead to new treatment strategies for neurodegenerative disorders, multiple sclerosis and bacterial or viral infections of the nervous system.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":79314,"journal":{"name":"Advances in neuroimmunology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1996-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/0960-5428(96)00017-4","citationCount":"260","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Advances in neuroimmunology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0960542896000174","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 260
Abstract
Microglial cells are brain macrophages which serve specific functions in the defense of the central nervous system (CNS) against microorganisms, the removal of tissue debris in neurodegenerative diseases or during normal development, and in autoimmune inflammatory disorders of the brain. In cultured microglial cells, several soluble inflammatory mediators such as cytokines and bacterial products like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were demonstrated to induce a wide range of microglial activities, e.g. increased phagocytosis, chemotaxis, secretion of cytokines, activation of the respiratory burst and induction of nitric oxide synthase. Since heightened microglial activation was shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of experimental inflammatory CNS disorders, understanding the molecular mechanisms of microglial activation may lead to new treatment strategies for neurodegenerative disorders, multiple sclerosis and bacterial or viral infections of the nervous system.