Glioma-Associated Microglia Augment Neuronal Hyper-Excitability in Glioma

Neuronal hyper-excitability in glioma environments has been reported long before and recent research has clarified that glioma cells are inducing the enhanced excitability of surrounding neurons. Furthermore, the direct interaction between neuron and glioma is also found to be a special characteristic within glioma progression. However, neurovascular unit (NVU) consists of various types of cells and are known to modulate the neuronal activity directly and indirectly. Among different cells constituting the NVU, microglia are recently found to be modulating neuronal activity through negative feedback via purinergic signaling while its modulating function is relatively unknown in glioma environment. In this review, we focus on the role of microglia in controlling neuronal activity and its loss-of-function contributing to the neuronal hyper-excitability within glioma environment.