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The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System

Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), were once considered quiescent cells that sat in readiness for reacting to disease and injury. Over the last decade, however, it has become clear that microglia play essential roles in maintaining the normal nervous system. Th...

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Autores principales: Dixon, Michael A., Greferath, Ursula, Fletcher, Erica L., Jobling, Andrew I.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33967697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2021.659843
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author Dixon, Michael A.
Greferath, Ursula
Fletcher, Erica L.
Jobling, Andrew I.
author_facet Dixon, Michael A.
Greferath, Ursula
Fletcher, Erica L.
Jobling, Andrew I.
author_sort Dixon, Michael A.
collection PubMed
description Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), were once considered quiescent cells that sat in readiness for reacting to disease and injury. Over the last decade, however, it has become clear that microglia play essential roles in maintaining the normal nervous system. The retina is an easily accessible part of the central nervous system and therefore much has been learned about the function of microglia from studies in the retina and visual system. Anatomically, microglia have processes that contact all synapses within the retina, as well as blood vessels in the major vascular plexuses. Microglia contribute to development of the visual system by contributing to neurogenesis, maturation of cone photoreceptors, as well as refining synaptic contacts. They can respond to neural signals and in turn release a range of cytokines and neurotrophic factors that have downstream consequences on neural function. Moreover, in light of their extensive contact with blood vessels, they are also essential for regulation of vascular development and integrity. This review article summarizes what we have learned about the role of microglia in maintaining the normal visual system and how this has helped in understanding their role in the central nervous system more broadly.
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spelling pubmed-81028292021-05-08 The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System Dixon, Michael A. Greferath, Ursula Fletcher, Erica L. Jobling, Andrew I. Front Cell Neurosci Cellular Neuroscience Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS), were once considered quiescent cells that sat in readiness for reacting to disease and injury. Over the last decade, however, it has become clear that microglia play essential roles in maintaining the normal nervous system. The retina is an easily accessible part of the central nervous system and therefore much has been learned about the function of microglia from studies in the retina and visual system. Anatomically, microglia have processes that contact all synapses within the retina, as well as blood vessels in the major vascular plexuses. Microglia contribute to development of the visual system by contributing to neurogenesis, maturation of cone photoreceptors, as well as refining synaptic contacts. They can respond to neural signals and in turn release a range of cytokines and neurotrophic factors that have downstream consequences on neural function. Moreover, in light of their extensive contact with blood vessels, they are also essential for regulation of vascular development and integrity. This review article summarizes what we have learned about the role of microglia in maintaining the normal visual system and how this has helped in understanding their role in the central nervous system more broadly. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8102829/ /pubmed/33967697 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2021.659843 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dixon, Greferath, Fletcher and Jobling. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Cellular Neuroscience
Dixon, Michael A.
Greferath, Ursula
Fletcher, Erica L.
Jobling, Andrew I.
The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title_full The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title_fullStr The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title_full_unstemmed The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title_short The Contribution of Microglia to the Development and Maturation of the Visual System
title_sort contribution of microglia to the development and maturation of the visual system
topic Cellular Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8102829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33967697
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2021.659843
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