Uncovering sex differences of rodent microglia

There are inherent structural and functional differences in the central nervous systems (CNS) of females and males. It has been gradually established that these sex-specific differences are due to a spectrum of genetic, epigenetic, and hormonal factors which actively contribute to the differential i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of neuroinflammation 2021-03, Vol.18 (1), p.74-74, Article 74
Main Authors: Han, Jinming, Fan, Yueshan, Zhou, Kai, Blomgren, Klas, Harris, Robert A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Central nervous system diseases
Development and progression
Disease
Epigenetics
Gender differences
Genetic aspects
Hormones
Macrophages
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Microglia
Review
Risk factors
Rodents
Sex
Sex differences
Structure-function relationships
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:There are inherent structural and functional differences in the central nervous systems (CNS) of females and males. It has been gradually established that these sex-specific differences are due to a spectrum of genetic, epigenetic, and hormonal factors which actively contribute to the differential incidences, disease courses, and even outcomes of CNS diseases between sexes. Microglia, as principle resident macrophages in the CNS, play a crucial role in both CNS physiology and pathology. However, sex differences of microglia have been relatively unexplored until recently. Emerging data has convincingly demonstrated the existence of sex-dependent structural and functional differences of rodent microglia, consequently changing our current understanding of these versatile cells. In this review, we attempt to comprehensively outline the current advances revealing microglial sex differences in rodent and their potential implications for specific CNS diseases with a stark sex difference. A detailed understanding of molecular processes underlying microglial sex differences is of major importance in design of translational sex- and microglia-specific therapeutic approaches.
ISSN:1742-2094
1742-2094
DOI:10.1186/s12974-021-02124-z