ArticleCell reports2021
Microglial identity and inflammatory responses are controlled by the combined effects of neurons and astrocytes.
Article in Cell reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrated meta-analysis of human astrocytes transcriptomes reveals a candidate recurrent inflammatory signature in response to inflammatory and immune stimuli.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Biomedical Materials and Fabrication Methods for Construction of In Vitro Neurovascular Unit Models.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Kynurenine Pathway: Unraveling Its Role in Neurological Disorders via Mammalian Cellular Models.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Reconstituting central nervous system niche cues partially restores homeostatic-like features in cultured murine primary microglia.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Redefining the timeline: a three-phase framework of hypothalamic microinflammation in metabolic disease.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- PU.1 restores microglial dysfunction caused by C9ORF72 repeat expansions in neural organoids.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Tri-Culture System Reveals an Activation Cascade From Microglia Through Astrocytes to Neurons During Neuroinflammation.Journal of neurochemistry · 2026Article
- Restricting Synaptotagmin-3 Internalization Mitigates Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury by Curtailed Neuronal Apoptosis and Microglial Re-Programming.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Neurocardiac consequences of traumatic brain injury: integrating neuroimmune, autonomic, and cerebrovascular mechanisms.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Targeting microglia microtubules: cytoskeletal remodeling as a druggable hub in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- MicroRNA-Mediated Modulation of the Colony-Stimulating Factor 1 Pathway in Microglial Activation and Neuropathic Pain: A Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Transcriptomic Study.Pain research & management · 2026Article
- Multi-modal label-free imaging of cellular metabolism and oxidative stress in 3D brain tissue models.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Role of transforming growth factorβ in neurovascular unit during cerebral small vessel disease.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025Review
- Prenatal opioid exposure and maternal HCV infection impair microglia development and function: A patient-specific in vitro model.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Article
- Dissection of Neurochemical Pathways Across Complexity and Scale.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Characterizing Microglial Signaling Dynamics During Inflammation Using Single-Cell Mass Cytometry.Glia · 2025Article
- Papain Affects the Percentage and Morphology of Microglia in Hippocampal Neuron-Glial Cultures.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- The Meninges as CNS Interfaces and the Roles of Meningeal Macrophages.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Assembloid models of cell-cell interaction to study tissue and disease biology.Cell stem cell · 2024Review
9 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
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Microglia, brain-resident macrophages, require instruction from the CNS microenvironment to maintain their identity and morphology and regulate inflammatory responses, although what mediates this is unclear. Here, we show that neurons and astrocytes cooperate to promote microglial ramification, induce expression of microglial signature genes ordinarily lost in vitro and in age and disease in vivo, and repress infection- and injury-associated gene sets. The influence of neurons and astrocytes separately on microglia is weak, indicative of synergies between these cell types, which exert their effects via a mechanism involving transforming growth factor β2 (TGF-β2) signaling. Neurons and astrocytes also combine to provide immunomodulatory cues, repressing primed microglial responses to weak inflammatory stimuli (without affecting maximal responses) and consequently limiting the feedback effects of inflammation on the neurons and astrocytes themselves. These findings explain why microglia isolated ex vivo undergo de-differentiation and inflammatory deregulation and point to how disease- and age-associated changes may be counteracted.
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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.