tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548560205914833324.post3428720160768069011..comments2023-04-23T00:16:48.148+01:00Comments on Questioning Answers: Autism and microgliaPaul Whiteleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14288851488012254897noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548560205914833324.post-90457269601847987992012-08-21T15:31:15.836+01:002012-08-21T15:31:15.836+01:00Thanks Mrs. Ed.
Martha Herbert is really making s...Thanks Mrs. Ed.<br /><br />Martha Herbert is really making some waves with the new book and certainly as a pediatric neurologist, knows what she is talking about when it comes to all things glial. I on the other hand, am still on a learning curve when it comes to brains and stuff but found the microglia-immune link to be very, very interesting.<br /><br />As for the Bosstones - I'd forgotten about them... someday, I suppose (remembering Clueless the movie also).Paul Whiteleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14288851488012254897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548560205914833324.post-89450794794442653472012-08-21T15:07:06.975+01:002012-08-21T15:07:06.975+01:00Very over my head, but very interesting! I thought...Very over my head, but very interesting! I thought of Martha Herberts book The Autism Revolution. She talks a lot about diets in the book. She doesn't recommend specific diets, it more to tell how diet/nutrition affects the brain, especially glial cells, which might explain why parents see the improvements in their kids with diet change.<br />And the Ska... I might have to dust off my Mighty Mighty Bosstones.Mrs. Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02144247274657295271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548560205914833324.post-57976741482033308722012-08-20T21:21:53.662+01:002012-08-20T21:21:53.662+01:00Thanks pD.
Just reading around the whole microgl...Thanks pD. <br /><br />Just reading around the whole microglia story with autism (and lots of other things in mind) it seems as though this is quite an interesting area for further study. That and other glial cells like astrocytes (a separate post on its own).<br /><br />Interesting thoughts about the pruning effects of microglia. Takes me back to some interesting research on S100B and autism also: http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/pdf/1742-2094-9-54.pdf<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Paul Whiteleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14288851488012254897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5548560205914833324.post-52506516225162455492012-08-20T16:43:12.134+01:002012-08-20T16:43:12.134+01:00Oh snap! Oh snap!
Regarding gardening and pruni...Oh snap! Oh snap! <br /><br />Regarding gardening and pruning and whatnot, I think one important thing to remember is that these actions occur when the microglia are in a so called <i>resting state</i>; i.e., when they are morphologically different than when they are 'activated' (either chronically activated or not). [Of course, the 'activated' or 'resting' terminology are really just crutches based on our rather impaired ability to detect what they little buggers are doing in there <i>in vivo</i> until very recently].<br /><br />That being said, <i>if</i> chronic microglial activation occurs in a subset of people with autism <i>and</i> said chronic activation begin early in life, it could impact synaptic pruning as a kind of bystander effect; <i>instead</i> of pruning like a good old microglia, the microglia are too busy freaking out. I think we should be less worried about the microglia eating synapses, and more worried about them <i>not</i> eating synapses during fetal and early postnatal life. <br /><br />For a really neat paper on the developmental impacts of microglia participation, you might try out:<br /><br /><i>Microglia in the developing brain: a potential target with lifetime effects</i><br /><br />Among other nuggets, there is evidence that microglia are extremely long lived and have very low turn over rates over the lifespan. Not only that, there is also evidence that there are periods wherein they can 'learn' (or be programmed) into a specific function. Their effects in this regard also appear to have large <i>postnatal</i> influences. <br /><br />This is one potential reason they seem to be candidates for time dependent developmental impacts; you get them once, early in life, at a time when once in a lifetime processes are being performed. If their trajectory is perturbed, they can stay perturbed. <br /><br />Regarding the Bilbo / Schwartz paper, nice catch! There are also some papers regarding the population <i>density</i> of microglia in the autism realm (i.e., <i>Microglial activation and increased microglial density observed in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in autism</i> and <i>Microglia in the Cerebral Cortex in Autism</i>. Considered within a context of a sex and time dependent of a once in a lifetime migration of microglia into the CNS, these are some pretty neat findings. <br /><br />Great post!<br />passionlessDronehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05398721312156704738noreply@blogger.com