Neurodegenerative disorders: The glia way forward

Abstract

The realization that inflammation can affect the brain is not a new one, and many diseases of the CNS, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), have been shown to clearly respond to agents that target the immune system at one level or another. However, it is only more recently that the immune system has been shown to play a role in the normal development and homeostasis of the brain as well as contributing to disorders that have traditionally been thought of as being purely neurodegenerative in nature, such as Huntington's (HD) or Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this special issue of Frontiers in Neuropharmacology, we have sought to bring together experts in this new emerging area of neurobiology. © 2014 Barker and Cicchetti.