Table of Contents
Microglia are activated in neurodegenerative
& neuroinflammatory diseases
Characteristics of microglia activation
- Increased proliferation & density
- Morphological changes
- Increase in soma size
- Alterations of processes
- Fine & extended to short & dense
- Spiky/hairy with thick processes
Multiple morphological features have been correlated with the degree of activation (Fernández-Arjona, 2019).
Resting microglia: extended with fine processes
Activated microglia: spiky/hairy with thick processes
Proliferation
(images reproduced from Schwabenland et al., 2021; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
References
Fernández-Arjona et al., Front. Cell. Neurosci., 13: 472, 2019; doi: 10.3389/fncel.2019.00472
Schwabenland et al., Acta. Neuropathol., 142: 923-936, 2021; doi: 10.1007/s00401-021-02370-8