Cell Rep. 24, 2773–2783 (2018)

Microglia help protect the brain from pathogens. There’s also evidence that these immune cells can influence brain development and that they differ between the sexes. Neurological diseases often vary depending on whether the afflicted is male or female as well, leading researchers to ponder the role of microglia in health and disease.

A team of German researchers led by Susanne Wolf at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin recently attempted to characterize the problem. They examined structure, function, transcriptome, and protein profiles of microglia sampled from 13-week-old male and female C57BL/6J mice, noting several sex-specific differences others might want to be aware of in future brain research.