Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that mitochondria are not necessary for the proliferation of specialized immune cells in the central nervous system, but do help those cells respond to ...

The brain contains many cell types, from the prominent neurons to the lesser-known microglia. The latter are integral to the brain's immune system and play a crucial role as the brain's cleanup crew.

The brain contains many cell types, from the prominent neurons to the lesser-known microglia. The latter are integral to the brain's immune system and play a crucial role as the brain's cleanup crew.

A Dartmouth study published in Nature Communications reveals that immune cells in the brain use a surprising two-step process to power their search-and-destroy missions. When immune cells rush to ...

A clearance mechanism involving microglia has been known to relieve neurons of toxic protein aggregates such as those associated with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately, this ...

Abnormal microglial energy metabolism in AD. Translocation of Aβ into microglial mitochondria by the outer membrane translocase (TOM) impairs mitochondrial function and inhibits phagocytosis. TREM2 ...

Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases, genetic disorders affecting the brain, have no effective treatment and are typically fatal within the first years of life. Scientists have reasoned that replacing the ...

Brain lesions beset with smoldering inflammation, and myeloid cells around their edges, define multiple sclerosis. This might be due, in part, to the flipping of electron flow within microglia, ...

The accumulation of pathological proteins is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Proteins such as ...