Novel Insights into Microglia Heterogeneity and Neurodegeneration
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Neurobiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 233
Special Issue Editor
Interests: inflammation; microglia; astrocytes; neurodegeneration; Parkinson's disease; neuroinflammation; immune system; brain; inflammatory bowel diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Microglia, resident immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS), play various biologically important roles under homeostatic and disease conditions, such as supporting neuronal development, synaptic pruning or scavenging dying cells. Moreover, as effector cells, microglia can influence the progress of many brain diseases, including as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and affective disorders.
A microglial phenotype, rarely present in steady-state conditions but abundant during chronic stress, aging and Alzheimer’s disease, is represented by “dark microglia”, suggesting a new phenotype involved in the pathological remodeling of neuronal circuits, especially at the synapse level. The heterogeneity of microglia in different regions of the CNS during development, homeostasis and neurological disorders has not been fully studied and little information is known about the subgroups of microglia during disease. The main reasons for this limited knowledge include important technical limitations that do not allow for an adequate spatial and temporal representation of microglia multiplicity at the single-cell level. Previous single-cell level analyses of microglia, such as flow cytometry, in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry, were limited to probing a few selected proteins or RNAs, which clearly hindered the ability to study complete landscapes of microglial diversity.
In this Special Issue, we aim to bring together the most recent studies exploring microglial heterogeneity using new advanced technologies to understand the role of microglia heterogeneity during development, homeostasis and in neurological disorders.
Prof. Dr. Maria Anttonietta Panaro
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- microglia
- synapses
- stress
- aging
- heterogeneity
- CNS
- single-cell RNA sequencing
- neurodegenerative diseases
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
