Dear Colleagues,

The immune system of the brain and the spinal cord has a protective function against exogenous infectious agents, as well as endogenous materials, including cell debris, misfolded protein, toxic metabolites, apoptotic cells, and superfluous synapses. These functions are largely mediated by the resident immune cells of the brain parenchyma—the microglia. Microglia (and other less prevalent brain immune cells) use surface receptors to survey the brain microenvironment, and transform into an activated state upon encountering danger signals, during which inflammatory molecules are released, and phagocytosis and proliferation is increased.

Under pathological conditions of neuroinflammation, immune signalling cascades may lead to spontaneous or exaggerated activation, or lead to persistent activation that never resolves. Virtually all neurodegenerative diseases involve abnormal or chronic neuroinflammation, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Wilson’s Disease, as well as frontotemporal dementia and multiple sclerosis. Scientific explanations for the underlying processes that determine these pathological varieties of neuroinflammation remain incomplete.

In this Special Issue, we aim to focus on the latest research on neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. We aim to present novel methods, findings, and theories with the goal of contributing to future mitigation strategies against pathological neuroinflammation with novel pharmacological interventions or life-style changes.

Dr. William Ralvenius

Guest Editor

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• neuroinflammation
• neurodegeneration
• microglia
• invading peripheral immune cells
• gliosis