Microglia, Cytokines, and Neural Activity: Unexpected Interactions in Brain Development and Function

Intercellular signaling molecules such as cytokines and their receptors enable immune cells to communicate with one another and their surrounding microenvironments. Emerging evidence suggests that the same signaling pathways that regulate inflammatory responses to injury and disease outside of the brain also play powerful roles in brain development, plasticity, and function. These observations raise the question of how the same signaling...