Immunometabolism in the Brain: How Metabolism Shapes Microglial Function

Abstract

Immune cells react to their environment by flexibly reprogramming intracellular metabolic pathways that subsequently alter immune function, in a process called immunometabolism. However, in the CNS, the impact of metabolic reprogramming on microglia, neuroinflammation, and subsequently on brain function is poorly understood. As brain-resident macrophages, microglia are the CNS immune effectors and share similarities with peripheral immune cells. New tools for studying immunometabolism now allow the analysis of bioenergetic regulation with cellular resolution and, as a result, have uncovered previously unappreciated roles for microglial immunometabolism in shaping neuroinflammation. This review highlights evidence that microglia metabolism adapts to changes in brain energy homeostasis and that metabolic reprogramming regulates microglial polarization, thereby impacting pathological inflammatory responses in the brain.

Keywords: bioenergetics; immunometabolism; metabolism; microglia; neurodegenerative disease; neuroinflammation.