The dialog between neurons and microglia in Alzheimer's disease: The neurotransmitters view.

Microglia play a vital role in maintaining brain homeostasis. Their continuous sensing of surrounding micro-environments is crucial for their activity. Cross talk between specific neurons and microglia might occur through specific neurotransmitter receptors on microglia. Impairment with this interaction might result in pathological activity of microglia against potential insults. The reason for this activity in many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not known. However, several papers report of the effects of different neurotransmitter agonists on microglial cells function that relate to their activity in AD. This review aims to summarize those works and to raise potential fundamental questions for future research.

Microglia and Parkinson's disease: footprints to pathology.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with motor deficiency and rigidity. The genetic risks of the disease is reported to be between 5 and 10% depending on the background of the population. While PD is not considered an immune-mediated disease, amounting evidence in recent years suggests a major role of inflammation in the progression of PD. Markers of inflammation can be found around the regions of risk and adjacent to the appearance of Lewy bodies within the basal ganglia and the substantia nigra (SN) that are associated with PD pathology. Microglia, an important type of brain cell, has been reported to play a major role in mediating neuroinflammation and in PD disease pathology. This review aims to point out the potential role of microglia in disease progression and suggest that the interaction of microglia with the dopaminergic neurons may also facilitate the specificity of the disease in brain regions affected by PD.