The human side of microglia

Despite increasing evidence of major differences between rodent and human immune and neurological function, relatively few biomedical studies are performed with human cells. This review takes the example of neuroimmunology research and the microglia cell type to illustrate the emerging differences between rodent and human research findings. Microglia are involved in disease states and normal aging processes of the adult human brain. Although rodent microglia are often used in studies investigating microglial function, there are important differences between rodent microglia and their human counterparts. To maximise the relevance of our basic research to the clinical setting, it is necessary to integrate more human-based research into current biomedical research practise and we discuss practical steps towards this aim.