Neuroinflammation: a need to understand microglia as resident cells of the developing brain.

Neuroinflammation and microglia as the resident immune cells of the brain has garnered a significant amount of interest with regards to brain injury and neurotoxicology. Much of this interest and research has been focused on responses in the adult brain with little attention paid to the role of these cells during development. The available data suggests that one must view microglia and their processes during development somewhat differently. In addition, modification to microglia during development may lay a framework for subtle to significant changes in the susceptibility of the mature brain to secondary insults. A number of these point are now being raised for consideration.