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[Physiological properties and functions of microglia] [Article in Chinese]

Li Ying, DU Xu-Fei, DU Jiu-Lin

Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China

Abstract

Microglia, the resident immune effective cells of the central nervous system, play crucial roles in mediating immune-related process. It becomes activated quickly in response to even minor pathological insults and participates in series of immune responses. Under physiological conditions, most microglia stay in a typical resting state, with ramified processes continuously extending and retracting from surrounding neural tissues, suggesting an important function of resting microglia. Recent studies indicate that resting microglia can regulate many physiological processes, including neural development, neural circuit formation, neuronal activity and plasticity, and animal grooming behavior. Here, we review the properties of resting microglia and further discuss how microglia participate in the above-mentioned functional regulation under physiological conditions.

Key words: microglia; resting state; activated state; synapse; neuron; neural function

Received: 2013-03-11　　Accepted: 2013-05-09

Corresponding author: 　　E-mail:

Citing This Article：

Li Ying, DU Xu-Fei, DU Jiu-Lin. [Physiological properties and functions of microglia] [Article in Chinese]. Acta Physiol Sin 2013; 65 (5): 471-482 (in Chinese with English abstract).