Neuroinflammation

Recent articles

Portion of The Transmitter’s state of neuroscience semantic map.

Putting 50 years of neuroscience on the map

Navigate the rise and fall of research topics over five decades using our interactive map, which is based on a semantic analysis of nearly 350,000 abstracts in leading neuroscience journals.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 3 min read
A hand points to a chalkboard with an astrocyte on it.

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)

Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.

By Ashley Juavinett
30 June 2025 | 10 min read
Illustration of complex, intersecting biological structures.

Everything, everywhere, all at once: Inside the chaos of Alzheimer’s disease

To truly understand Alzheimer’s disease, we may need to take a systems approach, in which inflammation, vascular injury, impaired glucose metabolism and other factors interact in complex ways.

By Michael A. Yassa
16 June 2025 | 7 min read
Illustration of astrocytes in a petri dish.

This paper changed my life: Shane Liddelow on two papers that upended astrocyte research

A game-changing cell culture method developed in Ben Barres’ lab completely transformed the way we study astrocytes and helped me build a career studying their reactive substates.

By Shane Liddelow
23 April 2025 | 6 min read
Astrocytes in a mouse brain.

Unexpected astrocyte gene flips image of brain’s ‘stalwart sentinels’

The genetic marker upends the accepted orientation of non-star-like astrocytes in the glia limitans superficialis.

By Lauren Schenkman
28 March 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of a body, brain visible through a transparent head, looking at orange circles over its hands.

Rethinking mental health: The body’s impact on the brain

Mounting evidence illustrates how peripheral molecules can influence brain function, offering new therapeutic targets.

By Georgia E. Hodes
11 February 2025 | 6 min read
Research image of gene expression in cells in the third ventricle of the hypothalamus of young and aged mice.

Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus ‘hot spot’

Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

By Angie Voyles Askham
8 January 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of mouse cells.

Immune cell interlopers breach—and repair—brain barrier in mice

The choroid plexus, the protective network of blood vessels and epithelial cells that line the brain’s ventricles, recruits neutrophils and macrophages during inflammation, a new study shows.

By Claudia López Lloreda
20 November 2024 | 6 min read
Illustration of a thermostat set to 22 point 5 degrees celsius, with a silhouette of a mouse adjusting its dial.

Mouse housing temperatures can cook experimental outcomes

Neuroscientists need to take note of how thermoregulatory processes influence the brain and behavior—for the sake of reproducibility and animal welfare.

By Caitlin James, Elizabeth Repasky, Sandra Sexton
5 November 2024 | 5 min read
Research image of microglia in rats.

Temperament is innate but hackable, animal studies suggest

Emotional reactivity and vulnerability to stress are largely inherited in rodents — but can be modified in early life by targeting inflammation-related cells or even just adjusting an animal’s environment.

By Holly Barker
23 January 2024 | 8 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex

The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.

By Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read
Brain organoid.

What is the future of organoid and assembloid regulation?

Four experts weigh in on how to establish ethical guardrails for research on the 3D neuron clusters as these models become ever more complex.

By Claudia López Lloreda
10 December 2025 | 7 min read
Research image of variants of the ATPase subunit PSMC5/RPT6.

Insights on suicidality and autism; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 8 December.

By Jill Adams
9 December 2025 | 2 min read

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