Definition of "microglia" [microglia]

• Any of the small neuroglial cells of the central nervous system having long processes and amoeboid and phagocytic activity at sites of neural damage or inflammation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""This is one of the best explanations I've heard," commented distinguished neuroscientist Floyd Bloom, after a presentation by Dr. Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado speaking about her latest research showing that glial cells, called microglia, are the unsuspected agents in chronic pain and drug addiction."
• "His team discovered that in inducing inflammation they were activating cells in the brain known as microglia, whose job it is to ingest unwanted material."
• "Inflammation and the toxic byproducts of the inflammation of a certain group of brain cells called the microglia are associated with aging, reduced cognition and neuron degeneration."