MICROGLIA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does microglia mean? 

• MICROGLIA (noun)
  The noun MICROGLIA has 1 sense:

1. neuroglial tissue of mesodermal origin that can become phagocytic

  Familiarity information: MICROGLIA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MICROGLIA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Neuroglial tissue of mesodermal origin that can become phagocytic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("microglia" is a kind of...):

glia; neuroglia (sustentacular tissue that surrounds and supports neurons in the central nervous system; glial and neural cells together compose the tissue of the central nervous system)

Meronyms (parts of "microglia"):

microgliacyte (a cell of the microglia that may become phagocytic and collect waste products of nerve tissue)

 Context examples 

Mixed in with these cells are microglia, specialized immune cells that help maintain the health of the retina and the function of retinal neurons.

(Immune cells in the retina can spontaneously regenerate, National Institutes of Health)

Rats with the morphine-induced sensitivity showed increased expression of inflammasomes within specialized central nervous system immune cells called microglia.

(Opioid Pain Relievers May Prolong Pain, NIH)

When the scientists examined their prion-infected study mice, they found that photoreceptor damage still occurred – even somewhat faster – despite the absence of microglia.

(Retinal prion disease study redefines role for brain cells, National Institutes of Health)

The types of neuroglia include oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia, and ependymal cells.

(Neuroglia, NCI Dictionary)

Microglia are capable of phagocytosis and play an important role in a wide spectrum of neuropathologies.

(Microglia, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

These cells, called microglia, often play a beneficial role by helping to clear trash and protect the central nervous system against infection.

(In blinding eye disease, trash-collecting cells go awry, accelerate damage, NIH)

The receptor, CR3, recognizes the C3 markers and conveys the information to microglia.

(Immune system can slow degenerative eye disease, National Institutes of Health)

Further experiments suggested that brain cells called microglia produced the IL-27 in response to the presence of red blood cells.

(Immune cells may heal bleeding brain after strokes, National Institutes of Health)

By contrast, only chronic sleep loss activates microglia cells and promotes their phagocytic activity ... suggesting that extended sleep disruption may prime microglia and perhaps predispose the brain to other forms of insult.

(Lack of Sleep Makes Brain to Literally Eat Itself, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They regulate the extracellular ionic and chemical environment, and "reactive astrocytes" (along with microglia) respond to injury.

(Murine Astrocytes, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)