Affiliation:
1. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Abstract
Microglia are important in the regulation of the inflammatory response in regulating the release of proinflammatory mediators in the brain. Through their phagocytic actions, microglia are significant in the CNS when it comes to the body's response to physiological insults by promoting repair of impaired brain function. They do so by engulfing and degrading microbes as well as brain-derived debris and proteins such as myelin and axonal fragments, amyloid-beta, and apoptotic cells. This mitophagic activity of microglia is of importance in neurodegeneration. In most neurodegenerative disorders, mitophagy is impaired with resultant accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria as well as processes such as lysosomal fusion and autophagosomes. In Parkinson's and Alzheimer's for example, impaired mitophagy accounts for the build-up of α-synuclein and amyloid respectively in affected individuals. The chapter discusses extensively the link between microglia mitophagy and neurodegeration and how dysfunctional mitophagy increases the likelihood of their occurrence.