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Microglia
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The microglia is made up of cells that are small and few in number, so inconspicuous that they are hard to see under the microscope. Their role, though, is a big one: they are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system, meaning the cells that swallow and digest what does not belong, and they live full time inside the brain and the spinal cord. There they work as effector cells of immunity, the ones that carry out the defense. It is the brain's own guard: not a visitor, it lives there.
Their way of working is to phagocytose, that is, to engulf and clear away. They take up foreign or damaged material, whole cells and organisms that should not be there. When that happens they go through a sequence: first they multiply, then their nucleus lengthens, and finally they gather with others into aggregates, that is, tight clusters of cells.
Those clusters do not form just anywhere. They form around an area of necrosis, which is tissue that has died, or surrounding the cell bodies of dying neurons.
In brief
Microglial cells are small and few; they are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system and act as effector cells of immunity.
It is the brain's own guard: not a visitor, it lives there.
They phagocytose and clear foreign or damaged material, cells and organisms; first they proliferate, then their nucleus lengthens and they form aggregates.
Those aggregates gather around an area of necrosis or around the cell bodies of dying neurons.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Glial Cells, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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