A type of glial cell that mediates immune responses by clearing cellular debris and dead neurons from nervous tissue through phagocytosis.

Small, mobile, phagocytic neuroglila of the CNS derived from mesodermal progenitor cells of the monocyte-macrophage type.

The third type of glial cell, along with astrocytes and oligodendrocytes (which together form the macroglia). Microglia vary in appearance depending on developmental stage, functional state, and anatomical location; subtype terms include ramified, perivascular, ameboid, resting, and activated. Microglia clearly are capable of phagocytosis and play an important role in a wide spectrum of neuropathologies. They have also been suggested to act in several other roles including in secretion (e.g., of cytokines and neural growth factors), in immunological processing (e.g., antigen presentation), and in central nervous system development and remodeling.

Microglia, type of neuronal support cell (neuroglia) occurring in the central nervous system of invertebrates and vertebrates that functions primarily as an immune cell. Microglia were first identified by histological staining with silver carbonate between 1919 and 1921 by Spanish neuroanatomist...