A novel role for microglia in minimizing excitotoxicity

Mariko L Howe1, Ben A Barres

  • 1Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. mlhowe@stanford.edu

BMC Biology
|February 2, 2012
PubMed
Summary

Resting microglia, the brain's immune cells, have a previously unknown function: they can limit excitotoxicity. This discovery offers new insights into protecting neurons from death in central nervous system diseases.