Brain Tumor Research Laboratories, The Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Exp Neurol. 2012 Apr;234(2):255-61. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2012.01.007. Epub 2012 Jan 16.
Microglia are gatekeepers in the CNS for a wide range of pathological stimuli and they blow the whistle when things go wrong. Collectively, microglia form a CNS tissue alarm system (Kreutzberg's "sensor of pathology"), and their involvement in physiological pain is in line with this function. However, pathological neuropathic pain is characterized by microglial activation that is unwanted and considered to contribute to or even cause tactile allodynia, hyperalgesia and spontaneous pain. Such abnormal microglial behavior seems likely due to an as yet ill-understood disturbance of microglial functions unrelated to inflammation. The idea that microglia have roles in the CNS that differ from those of peripheral macrophages has gained momentum with the discovery of their separate, pre-hematopoietic lineage during embryonic development and their direct interactions with synapses.
小胶质细胞是中枢神经系统中各种病理刺激的守门员，当出现问题时，它们会发出警报。小胶质细胞共同构成了中枢神经系统组织的报警系统（Kreutzberg 的“病理学传感器”），它们参与生理疼痛符合这一功能。然而，病理性神经病理性疼痛的特征是小胶质细胞的激活是不需要的，并且被认为有助于甚至导致触觉过敏、痛觉过敏和自发性疼痛。这种异常的小胶质细胞行为似乎是由于小胶质细胞功能的紊乱，而这种紊乱与炎症无关，目前还不太了解。随着在胚胎发育过程中小胶质细胞与外周巨噬细胞具有不同的造血前体谱系的发现，以及它们与突触的直接相互作用，小胶质细胞在中枢神经系统中的作用不同于外周巨噬细胞的观点得到了加强。
