How Microglia Prune Synapses in Health & Disease
Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Biosciences Seminar
BETH STEVENS, BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL AND HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
One of the major unsolved mysteries in neuroscience is how synapses are eliminated in the developing and diseased brain. During development synaptic pruning is required for precise brain wiring; however the mechanisms that drive the elimination of specific synapses remain elusive. Emerging evidence implicates resident phagocytes called microglia, and molecules traditionally associated with the immune system.
