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Neuroinflammation

Surprises from the sanitary engineers

Nature volume 532, pages 185–186 (2016)Cite this article

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In mammals, microglial cells of the central nervous system are responsible for the normal clearance of dead brain cells. TAM-receptor proteins have now been found to mediate this function. See Letter p.240

Cell-surface receptors are specialized molecules that respond to precise signals, so that environmental input elicits commensurate responses. On page 240 of this issue, Fourgeaud et al.1 describe how they manipulated the mouse genome to delete receptor proteins of the TAM family from microglia — a type of brain cell distantly related to the resident inflammatory cells found in tissues such as the skin, spleen and liver. The results provide startling insight into the process by which the adult brain generates new neurons, and open up avenues for studying microglia.

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Figure 1: Neuron clearance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard M. Ransohoff is in the Neuroimmunology group, Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.,

    Richard M. Ransohoff

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  1. Richard M. Ransohoff
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Correspondence to Richard M. Ransohoff.

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Ransohoff, R. Surprises from the sanitary engineers. Nature 532, 185–186 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17881

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