Description

In order to maintain homeostasis in both the central and peripheral nervous systems, immune cells are critical during normal healthy states. In the CNS specifically, an example of this being the essential role of microglia in synaptic pruning during development and the neural repair process. Under injurious and neuropathological conditions, immune cells also interact with specific immune cell subsets, neural cell populations and other non-neural or non-immune cells in. During these inflammatory processes, immune cells can exert both beneficial and detrimental functions, which is often dependent on their unique interaction with other cells of the nervous system.

The Research Topic contributions will cover:
1. Neuro-immune interactions in healthy conditions.
2. Neuro-immune interactions in pathological conditions.
3. Immune-immune interaction influencing the CNS or PNS
4. Interaction of immune cells with cells of the CNS, PNS or the neuromuscular unit

Emphasis will be given to a broad representation of different topics as described above as well as to new areas of research not described in detail. The main goal of this topic is to condense and extend information about the variety of immune cell-target cell interactions in the nervous system.

The subtopics that will be covered are:
- Synaptic pruning by microglia
- Microglia- macrophage interaction under pathological conditions
- Role of lymphocytes in CNS inflammation
- Immune cell- glia interaction
- Immune cell - neuronal interaction
- Immune cell-endothelial cell / blood brain barrier interaction
- Interplay of macrophages and Schwann cells or fibroblasts in peripheral nerve pathology and trauma
- Interaction between immune and muscle cells