cells Review Regulation of Microglial Functions by Purinergic Mechanisms in the Healthy and Diseased CNS Peter Illes 1,2,*, Patrizia Rubini 2, Henning Ulrich 3, Yafei Zhao 4 and Yong Tang 2,4 1 Rudolf Boehm Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Leipzig, 04107 Leipzig, Germany 2 International Collaborative Centre on Big Science Plan for Purine Signalling, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +49-34-1972-46-14 Received: 17 March 2020; Accepted: 27 April 2020; Published: 29 April 2020 Abstract: Microglial cells, the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), exist in a process-bearing, ramified/surveying phenotype under resting conditions. Upon activation by cell-damaging factors, they get transformed into an amoeboid phenotype releasing various cell products including pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, proteases, reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, and the excytotoxic ATP and glutamate. In addition, they engulf pathogenic bacteria or cell debris and phagocytose them. However, already resting/surveying microglia have a number of important physiological functions in the CNS; for example, they shield small disruptions of the blood–brain barrier by their processes, dynamically interact with synaptic structures, and clear surplus synapses during development. In neurodegenerative illnesses, they aggravate the original disease by a microglia-based compulsory neuroinflammatory reaction.