ArticleNeurobiology of aging2021
Dystrophic microglia are associated with neurodegenerative disease and not healthy aging in the human brain.
Article in Neurobiology of aging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 117 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
117 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Masitinib for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease: results from a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 3, clinical trial.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2023Trial
- Convection-enhanced delivery of dexamethasone in glioma models suppresses myeloid inflammation while avoiding systemic toxicities.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Prenatal and Lactation Exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) at the Global Mean Daily Intake Level Leads to Sex-Dependent Changes in Microglial State, Gene Expression, and Behavioral Patterns in Newborn and Juvenile Wistar Rat Offspring.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Review
- APOE4 Drives Uniquely Dysfunctional Human Microglial States in Alzheimer's Disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Impact of sex differences on microglial function in Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2026Review
- Effects of acute THC challenge on behavior and neuroinflammation in HIV-1 Tg26 mice vary based on HIV status, chronic THC history, and sex.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- PU.1 restores microglial dysfunction caused by C9ORF72 repeat expansions in neural organoids.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Changes in microglial morphologies during brain aging in common marmosets.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- Article
- The senescent niche hypothesis: microglial dysfunction and replacement strategies in drug-resistant epilepsy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- The role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases: from the perspective of ferroptosis.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2025Review
- Glial Cells and Aging: From the CNS to the Cerebellum.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Serum ferritin levels linked to cognitive decline and biomarker profiles in dementia with lewy bodies.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2025Article
- Microglial immune memory in Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases: epigenetics, triggers, and therapies.Epigenomics · 2025Review
- Microglial Dystrophy and Spatial Learning Impairments Following Exposure to Multiple Early-life Stressors in Rats.Annals of neurosciences · 2025Article
- Global C3 lowering in adulthood protects against hippocampal dysfunction and cognitive impairment in aged mice.Research square · 2025Article
- Delphinidin attenuates cognitive deficits and pathology of Alzheimer's disease by preventing microglial senescence via AMPK/SIRT1 pathway.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Article
- Lipid droplet accumulation in microglia and their potential roles.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Review
57 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Loss of physiological microglial function may increase the propagation of neurodegenerative diseases. Cellular senescence is a hallmark of aging; thus, we hypothesized age could be a cause of dystrophic microglia. Stereological counts were performed for total microglia, 2 microglia morphologies (hypertrophic and dystrophic) across the human lifespan. An age-associated increase in the number of dystrophic microglia was found in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. However, the increase in dystrophic microglia was proportional to the age-related increase in the total number of microglia. Thus, aging alone does not explain the presence of dystrophic microglia. We next tested if dystrophic microglia could be a disease-associated microglia morphology. Compared with controls, the number of dystrophic microglia was greater in cases with either Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy. These results demonstrate that microglia dystrophy, and not hypertrophic microglia, are the disease-associated microglia morphology. Finally, we found strong evidence for iron homeostasis changes in dystrophic microglia, providing a possible molecular mechanism driving the degeneration of microglia in neurodegenerative disease.
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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.