Nutritional and Pharmacological Strategies to Regulate Microglial Polarization in Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer's Disease.

ABSTRACT: The study of microglia, the immune cells of the brain, has experienced a renaissance after the discovery of microglia polarization. In fact, the concept that activated microglia can shift into the M1 pro-inflammatory or M2 neuroprotective phenotypes, depending on brain microenvironment, has completely changed the understanding of microglia in brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia polarization is particularly important in aging since an increased inflammatory status of body compartments, including the brain, has been reported in elderly people. In addition, inflammatory markers, mainly derived from activated microglia, are widely present in neurodegenerative diseases. Microglial inflammatory dysfunction, also linked to microglial senescence, has been extensively demonstrated

SUBMITTER: Pena-Altamira E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5461295 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature