MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1659947
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroinflammation: Mechanisms and Therapeutic InterventionsView all 12 articles
The dual nature of neuroinflammation in networked brain
Provisionally accepted
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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Neuroinflammation is a dynamic, context-sensitive process that plays essential roles in brain development, maintenance, and response to injury. It reflects a finely balanced neuroimmune statefacilitating repair and adaptation under homeostatic conditions, while also contributing to dysfunction when dysregulated or chronically activated. In this mini-review, we examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neuroinflammatory responses, focusing on the roles of microglia and astrocytes, their bidirectional communication with neurons, and their interaction with peripheral immune signals. We describe how various stimuli-including aging, protein aggregates, and cellular stress-modulate glial function and shift immune activity toward protective or deleterious outcomes. Special attention is given to endogenous regulatory pathways, including cytokine signaling, receptor-mediated crosstalk, and immunometabolic cues that determine the resolution or persistence of inflammation. We further discuss shared and disease-specific features of neuroinflammation across neurological disorders, offering a systems-level perspective on how immune activity contributes to neural resilience or degeneration. This integrated view aims to inform future studies on neuroimmune dynamics in health and disease.
Keywords: Neuroinflammation, Brain, neuroimmune interactions, Microglia, Astrocytes, Neurons, CNS, neurological disorders
Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Müller, Di Benedetto and Müller. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ludmila Müller, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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