Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23717262›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2013

Functional diversity of microglia - how heterogeneous are they to begin with?

Uwe-Karsten Hanisch

Abstract read
In one paragraph

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 104 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
104citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

104 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Dual CD73/AFrontiers in pharmacology · 2026
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Tumors and their microenvironments: Learning from pediatric brain pathologies.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Reviews on cancer · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. History of Microglia.Advances in neurobiology · 2024
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Commonly Overlooked Factors in Biocompatibility Studies of Neural Implants.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2023
    Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Immunopathology of the optic nerve in multiple sclerosis.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2022
    Article
  20. Article

44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Uwe-Karsten HanischInstitute of Neuropathology, University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microglia serve in the surveillance and maintenance, protection and restoration of the central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis. By their parenchymal location they differ from other CNS-associated myeloid cells, and by origin as well as functional characteristics they are also-at least in part-distinct from extraneural tissue macrophages. Nevertheless, microglia themselves may not comprise a uniform cell type. CNS regions vary by cellular and chemical composition, including white matter (myelin) content, blood-brain barrier properties or prevailing neurotransmitters. Such a micromilieu could instruct as well as require local adaptions of microglial features. Yet even cells within circumscribed populations may reveal some specialization by subtypes, regarding house-keeping duties and functional capacities upon challenges. While diversity of reactive phenotypes has been established still little is known as to whether all activated cells would respond with the same program of induced genes and functions or whether responder subsets have individual contributions. Preferential synthesis of a key cytokine could asign a master control to certain cells among a pool of activated microglia. Critical functions could be sequestered to discrete microglial subtypes in order to avoid interference, such as clearance of endogenous material and presentation of antigens. Indeed, several and especially a number of recent studies provide evidence for the constitutive and reactive heterogeneity of microglia by and within CNS regions. While such a principle of "division of labor" would influence the basic notion of "the" microglia, it could come with the practival value of addressing separate microglia types in experimental and therapeutic manipulations.

Indexed as

cytokinesdiversityexperienceimmunityinnatemicrogliasubtypesTLR

Identifiers

PMID23717262
PMCPMC3653062

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.