In her most catchily titled book, The Angel and the Assassin , Donna Jackson Nakazawa highlighed nerve cells which have hitherto been very little acknowledged – microglia . Long ignored as bit players in the big league of the nervous system, Nakazawa colourfully illustrated what many neuroscientists are beginning to realise: the small size of microglia belies their huge influence ; m icroglia are, after all, the defence force of the nervous system, protecting the brain from microbial invaders . In keeping with their small size, their role is to surreptitiously present the antigens of invading bugs to T cells , the toffs who actually carry out the final hatchet job . It is therefore not surprising that any dysfunction of microglia will come with significant clinical consequences . By GerryShaw – Own work , CC BY-SA 3.0 , Link The most important clinical fallout of dysfunctional microglia appears to be the emergence of dementia. It is indeed spec...
Deep brain stimulation applied to a small brain area associated with reward and motivation resulted in metabolic brain changes over 12 months post-implantation and alleviated some symptoms of depression for those with treatment-resistant depression.
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