Circumventricular organs are specialized brain regions lacking a blood-brain barrier. Van Hove et al. reveal that these regions harbor unique microglia and border-associated macrophage populations that respond to ageing and metabolism and are partly derived from fetal monocytes entering during a perinatal window, which can fully adopt the microglia identity.

CytoVI is a deep generative model for statistically rigorous analysis of antibody-based single-cell data.

Circumventricular organs are specialized brain regions lacking a blood-brain barrier. Van Hove et al. reveal that these regions harbor unique microglia and border-associated macrophage populations tha...

Bhattarai, Yilmaz and colleagues identify astrocyte-derived fibronectin as a key driver of blood–brain barrier dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease, linking APOE ε4 and amyloid pathology to vascular dam...

Neurons actively shape immune responses that maintain central nervous system integrity. We identify SPP1 (secreted phosphoprotein 1) as a neuron-derived signal that reprograms microglia into a neuropr...

In this study, Miserocchi et al. find that Tgf-β receptor signaling is a conserved, cell-intrinsic regulator of microglial differentiation in zebrafish. Disrupting this pathway blocks acquisition and ...

Neuroinflammation alone may be dispensable for early synapse loss in Alzheimer’s disease.

Altered astrocyte-microglia interactions have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, but the underpinning mechanisms remain unclear. Zhang and colleagues show that astrocytic PAD2-mediated citrullination of vimentin activates microglia, worsens Aβ accumulation, and exacerbates cognitive deficits. These findings highlight astrocyte-microglia crosstalk as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease.

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), glial crosstalk surrounding amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques establishes a self-reinforcing inflammatory circuit; however, its underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Zhang et al. find that astrocytic PAD2 citrullinates vimentin. The released Cit-vimentin then drives proinflammatory microglial activation and suppresses Aβ phagocytosis, exacerbating AD pathology. Their findings highlight PAD2 as a promising therapeutic target.

Passive transfer of IgG from long COVID patients induces pain behavior accompanied by intraepidermal nerve fiber damage in mice.

Mouse demyelination models are widely used to study myelin loss and repair in the central nervous system. Here, the authors use single-cell RNA sequencing to compare glial responses across mouse model...

Prion diseases cause neurodegeneration associated with microglial alteration. Here, the authors show in a prion disease mouse model that phagocytic Gpnmb⁺ microglial state reflects regional responses ...

Foamy microglia are associated with multiple sclerosis progression, linking phagocytosis, altered lipid metabolism (oxylipins) and lysosomal stress to nonclassical neuroinflammation and disease severi...

Myeloid cells show marked heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease. This study introduces CODEX-CNS, a single-cell spatial proteomics pipeline, and identifies a human microglial subpopulation enriched in ...

Just like vertebrates, cephalopods — such as octopuses and squid — have elaborate brains. Neuroscientists are flocking to them for insights into how intelligence evolved.

Ali et al. analyze over 5,700 cerebrospinal fluid and plasma samples across Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. They identify shared immune dysregulation and distinct pathway alterations, including glycosylation and interleukin signaling, and develop predictive models that accurately classify each disorder, highlighting biomarkers and pathways for therapeutic targeting.

Postnatal development is a critical period for the maturation of the nervous and immune systems. The choroid plexus (CP) within the brain ventricles guides brain development through the production of ...