ArticleFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2013
Janus-faced microglia: beneficial and detrimental consequences of microglial phagocytosis.
Article in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 334 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
334 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 567 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microglial Phagocytosis: A Disease-Associated Process Emerging from Alzheimer's Disease Genetics.Trends in neurosciences · 2020Pooled it
- miR-214-3p and NCKAP1: A microglial functional dimension of Alzheimer's progression.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Article
- Protocol for evaluating microglial phagocytosis in situ in mouse hippocampal slices.STAR protocols · 2026Article
- SGK1-mediated deficits in microglial phagocytosis drive pathological progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Disrupted maternal care alters neural-microglia interactions in the primate paralaminar (PL) nucleus of the amygdala.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Microglial dynamics and ferroptosis induction in human iPSC-derived neuron-astrocyte-microglia tri-cultures.FEBS open bio · 2026Article
- NLRP6 governs hippocampal microglial phagocytosis to resist stress-induced depressive-like behaviors in mice and the intervention effect of bezafibrate.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- A scalable human-zebrafish xenotransplantation model reveals gastrosome-mediated processing of dying neurons by human microglia.Communications biology · 2026Article
- The Glymphatic System and Meningeal Lymphatics: Current Understandings and Future Perspectives.MedComm · 2026Review
- Control of microglial dynamics by the Arp2/3 complex and the autism- and schizophrenia-associated protein CYFIP1.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Epigenetic control of microglial developmental milestones from proliferative progenitors to efficient phagocytes.Research square · 2026Article
- Exploring retinal microglia: development, degeneration, and iPSC-derived model systems.Brain structure & function · 2026Review
- Targeting Microglial Phagocytosis for Alzheimer's Disease Management: Natural, Pharmacological, Nanoparticle, and Gene Therapy Approaches.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2026Review
- Article
- Epigenetic control of microglial developmental milestones from proliferative progenitors to efficient phagocytes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Review
- Bidirectional Interplay Between Microglia and Mast Cells.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The development of a direct co-culture-based model for diabetic foot ulcer mimicking inflammation and impaired phagocytosis.In vitro models · 2025Article
- Iterative transcription factor screening enables rapid generation of microglia-like cells from human iPSC.Nature communications · 2025Article
274 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Microglia are the resident brain macrophages and they have been traditionally studied as orchestrators of the brain inflammatory response during infections and disease. In addition, microglia has a more benign, less explored role as the brain professional phagocytes. Phagocytosis is a term coined from the Greek to describe the receptor-mediated engulfment and degradation of dead cells and microbes. In addition, microglia phagocytoses brain-specific cargo, such as axonal and myelin debris in spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis, amyloid-β deposits in Alzheimer's disease, and supernumerary synapses in postnatal development. Common mechanisms of recognition, engulfment, and degradation of the different types of cargo are assumed, but very little is known about the shared and specific molecules involved in the phagocytosis of each target by microglia. More importantly, the functional consequences of microglial phagocytosis remain largely unexplored. Overall, phagocytosis is considered a beneficial phenomenon, since it eliminates dead cells and induces an anti-inflammatory response. However, phagocytosis can also activate the respiratory burst, which produces toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Phagocytosis has been traditionally studied in pathological conditions, leading to the assumption that microglia have to be activated in order to become efficient phagocytes. Recent data, however, has shown that unchallenged microglia phagocytose apoptotic cells during development and in adult neurogenic niches, suggesting an overlooked role in brain remodeling throughout the normal lifespan. The present review will summarize the current state of the literature regarding the role of microglial phagocytosis in maintaining tissue homeostasis in health as in disease.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.