Microglia Remember Bouts of Bodily Inflammation in Mice

A new study reports that immune memory may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases.

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

FLICKR, ZEISS MICROSCOPYInflammation in the body may influence the “memory” of immune cells in the brains of mice, researchers report today (April 11) in Nature. If confirmed in humans, the finding could give clues to the development of certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

“Epidemiological studies have shown that infectious diseases and inflammation suffered during a lifetime can affect the severity of Alzheimer’s disease much later in life,” study coauthor Jonas Neher of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Tübingen says in a statement. “We therefore asked ourselves whether an immunological memory in these long-lived microglia could be communicating this risk.”

In the study, Neher and his colleagues studied the response of microglia—long-lived immune cells found only in the brain—to repeated bodily infections. The team injected mice that model Alzheimer’s disease with the bacterial component lipopolysaccharide to induce inflammation. The inflammatory response triggered by the first shot trained microglia to be on guard for subsequent infections. After repeated injections, however, the immune cells barely responded—they’d developed tolerance to ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Ashley Yeager

    Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide