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Phagocytosis of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases 

LIU Yue-Ying^1,2, DU Tian-Shu^1,2, LIU Yang^1,2, ZHANG Zhen^1,2, AIZIER Ai-Niwaer^1,2, GONG Xiao-Li³, WANG Xiao-Min^3,2,4, ZHANG Ting^1,2,*

¹Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China；²Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disorders of the Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China；³Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China；⁴Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing 100069, China

Abstract

With the acceleration of the aging society, neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), have become a rapidly growing global health crisis. Recent studies have indicated that microglia-neuron interactions are critical for maintaining homeostasis of the central nervous system. Genome-Wide Association Studies and brain imaging studies have suggested that microglia are activated in early stage of neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia are specialized phagocytes in the brain. The discovery of a new phagocytic pathway, trogocytosis, suggests that there is a close interaction between microglia and surviving neurons. In this review, we summarize the important roles of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases, and further analyze the functions and molecular mechanisms of microglia phagocytosis and trogocytosis.

Key words: microglia; phagocytosis; trogocytosis; Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 张婷　　E-mail: zhang.t@ccmu.edu.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2022.0031

Citing This Article：

LIU Yue-Ying, DU Tian-Shu, LIU Yang, ZHANG Zhen, AIZIER Ai-Niwaer, GONG Xiao-Li, WANG Xiao-Min, ZHANG Ting. Phagocytosis of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases . Acta Physiol Sin 2022; 74 (2): 283-293 (in Chinese with English abstract).