Developmental roles of microglia: a window into mechanisms of disease.

Microglia are engineers of the CNS both in health and disease. In addition to the canonical immunological roles of clearing damaging entities and limiting the spread of toxicity and death, microglia remodel the CNS throughout life. While they have been extensively studied in disease and injury, due to their highly variable functions, their precise role in these contexts still remains uncertain. Over the last decade we have greatly expanded our understanding of microglial function, including their essential homeostatic roles during development. Here, we review these developmental roles, identify parallels in disease, and speculate whether developmental mechanisms reemerge in disease and injury. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.