Critical Data-Based Re-Evaluation of Minocycline as a Putative Specific Microglia Inhibitor

Minocycline, a second generation broad-spectrum antibiotic, has been frequently postulated to be a microglia inhibitor. A considerable number of publications have used minocycline as a tool and concluded, after achieving a pharmacological effect, that the effect must be due to inhibition of microglia. It is, however, unclear how this inhibition is achieved at the molecular and cellular levels. Here, we weigh the evidence whether minocycline is indeed a bona fide microglia inhibitor and discuss how data generated with minocycline should be interpreted.