ReviewCellular & molecular immunology2021
Microglia as hackers of the matrix: sculpting synapses and the extracellular space.
Review in Cellular & molecular immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 159 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multimodal microglial and kynurenine pathway alterations across the affective-psychosis spectrum: a systematic review of patterns, heterogeneity, and dimensional implications.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Ketamine preserves perineuronal nets in chronic stressed mice brain through the inhibition of microglia activation.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Review
- Perineuronal Net and Inhibitory Synapse Remodeling on Striatal Fast-Spiking Interneurons by Chronic Alcohol Exposure.Biological psychiatry · 2026Article
- Molecular Basis of Glia-ECM Interplay in Central Nervous System Homeostasis and Plasticity.Cells · 2026Review
- Microglia-mediated synaptic pruning in neural circuit remodeling: multidimensional control in homeostasis and neuropathology.BMC medicine · 2026Review
- Human IL-34 Deficiency Primes Microglia Toward Alzheimer's Disease-Associated States.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 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
- Extracellular matrix remodelling in neurological diseases.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Article
- Structural immunity: immune cells as architects of tissue barriers.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026Review
- Glial cell and perineuronal net interactions in the dorsal striatum of aged mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Extracellular matrix proteolysis maintains synapse plasticity during brain development.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Zebrafish as a translational model for peptide-mediated synaptic dysfunction related to obesity.Frontiers in synaptic neuroscience · 2026Review
- Disease-associated RNA and protein signatures in iPSC-derived microglia model of Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Microglial regulation of synaptic plasticity in transsynaptic degeneration of glaucoma.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- IL-34 in neurological homeostasis and its multifaceted roles in central nervous system diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Microglial activity during postnatal development is required for infantile amnesia in mice.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Stiff matrix drives microglial cell migration through Piezo1/CaRegenerative biomaterials · 2026Article
47 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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Microglia shape the synaptic environment in health and disease, but synapses do not exist in a vacuum. Instead, pre- and postsynaptic terminals are surrounded by extracellular matrix (ECM), which together with glia comprise the four elements of the contemporary tetrapartite synapse model. While research in this area is still just beginning, accumulating evidence points toward a novel role for microglia in regulating the ECM during normal brain homeostasis, and such processes may, in turn, become dysfunctional in disease. As it relates to synapses, microglia are reported to modify the perisynaptic matrix, which is the diffuse matrix that surrounds dendritic and axonal terminals, as well as perineuronal nets (PNNs), specialized reticular formations of compact ECM that enwrap neuronal subsets and stabilize proximal synapses. The interconnected relationship between synapses and the ECM in which they are embedded suggests that alterations in one structure necessarily affect the dynamics of the other, and microglia may need to sculpt the matrix to modify the synapses within. Here, we provide an overview of the microglial regulation of synapses, perisynaptic matrix, and PNNs, propose candidate mechanisms by which these structures may be modified, and present the implications of such modifications in normal brain homeostasis and in disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.