The DOI matches its Crossref record; 174 of the 174 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The brain’s best friend: microglial neurotoxicity revisited
Open accessAbstract
One long standing aspect of microglia biology was never questioned; their involvement in brain disease. Based on morphological changes (retracted processes and amoeboid shape) that inevitably occur in these cells in case of damage in the central nervous system, microglia in the diseased brain were called "activated." Because "activated" microglia were always found in direct neighborhood to dead or dying neuron, and since it is known now for more than 20 years that cultured microglia release numerous factors that are able to kill neurons, microglia "activation" was often seen as a neurotoxic process. From an evolutionary point of view, however, it is difficult to understand why an important, mostly post-mitotic and highly vulnerable organ like the brain would host numerous potential killers. This review is aimed to critically reconsider the term microglia neurotoxicity and to discuss experimental problems around microglia biology, that often have led to the conclusion that microglia are neurotoxic cells.
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“Activated microglia also support neuronal survival and function by engulfing pathogens, cellular debris, or other neurotoxic entities and can synthesize various neurotrophic factors to promote tissue maintenance and repair (63, 64). However, the excessive or sustained activation of microglial cells (such as in chronic neurodegenerative diseases) usually produces significant inflammatory collateral”
From The HPA – Immune Axis and the Immunomodulatory Actions of Glucocorticoids in the Brain (2014) · cites this paper as [63]
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Cites
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““fncel-07-00071” — 2013/5/20 — 11:49 — page 1 — #1 REVIEW ARTICLE published: 16 May 2013 doi: 10.3389/fncel.2013.00071 The brain’s best friend: microglial neurotoxicity revisited”
BackgroundInfluentialMicroglia: Active sensor and versatile effector cells in the normal and pathologic brain
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Fate Mapping Reveals Origins and Dynamics of Monocytes and Tissue Macrophages under Homeostasis
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A polarizing question: do M1 and M2 microglia exist?
Ransohoff, R. M. (2016) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn.4338 · Cited by 1,573
The HPA – Immune Axis and the Immunomodulatory Actions of Glucocorticoids in the Brain
Bellavance, M.-A., & Rivest, S. (2014) · Frontiers in Immunology · doi:10.3389/fimmu.2014.00136 · Cited by 419
Chen, Z., & Trapp, B. D. (2015) · Journal of Neurochemistry · doi:10.1111/jnc.13062 · Cited by 431
Streit, W. J., Xue, Q.-S., Tischer, J., & Bechmann, I. (2014) · Acta Neuropathologica Communications · doi:10.1186/s40478-014-0142-6 · Cited by 317
Microglial displacement of inhibitory synapses provides neuroprotection in the adult brain
Chen, Z., Jalabi, W., Hu, W., Park, H.-J., Gale, J. T., Kidd, G. J., Bernatowicz, R., Gossman, Z. C., Chen, J. T., Dutta, R., et al. (2014) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms5486 · Cited by 319
Metadata
- Authors
- Hellwig, S., Heinrich, A., & Biber, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- University Medical Center Groningen (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Biber, Knut
- Venue
- Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 71-71
- ISSN
- 1662-5102 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3655268
- OpenAlex
- W2030448361
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 173
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 9.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BI 668/2-2, BI 668/5-1, DFG BI 668/5-1)
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- microglia, microglial neurotoxicity, microglial activation, microglial morphology, amoeboid microglia, neuroinflammation, brain disorders
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