Immunometabolism in the Brain

Dear Colleagues,

Brain homeostasis depends on coordinated activity of microglia, brain resident immune cells, and peripheral immune cells. When adapting to effector functions, these cells integrate complex molecular signals and undergo comprehensive phenotypical remodeling. Emerging evidence suggests that such phenotype transitions are mediated by reprogramming of cell metabolism. Indeed, metabolic pathways are distinctively altered in activated microglia and infiltrating immune cells and have been considered central nodes controlling brain immunity. Importantly, adaptations in metabolism are connected to remodeling in several cellular processes such as redox balance, epigenetic landscapes, migration, phagocytosis, and inflammatory signaling. Minor disturbances in these pathways associate with altered brain function in neuroinflammatory diseases. Despite the recent advances in the field of Immunometabolism, the metabolic programs controlling immune cell functions and the consequent effects on brain cellular interactions are only starting to be unveiled, representing an exciting avenue for new discoveries.

This special issue of Metabolites will be dedicated to publishing advances on the understanding of i) metabolic interactions mediating phenotype transitions of microglia and peripheral immune cells and ii) the impacts of immune cell metabolic programs on brain metabolism and function, both in health and disease.

All the fields related to the study of brain immunometabolism involving genetic/epigenetic, biochemical, molecular, cellular, omics, and system biology approaches will be covered in this issue. Reviews on updated discoveries and current challenges to the field are also highly desired.

Dr. Bruno Chausse
Prof. Dr. Isaias Glezer
Guest Editors

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• microglia
• adaptive Immunity
• metabolism
• neuroinflammation
• neurodegenerative diseases
• mitochondria
• glycolysis
• lipid metabolism
• metabolic reprogramming
• brain metabolism