Richard Milner, Ph.D. publishes on a critical role for microglia in maintaining vascular integrity in the hypoxic spinal cord

Recent studies in the Milner lab show that chronic mild hypoxia induces transient vascular leak in spinal cord blood vessels that is associated with microglial clustering. Richard Milner, Ph.D. found in his research that microglial depletion was associated with a loss of tight junction proteins, which in turn caused the vascular leak to worsen. These findings highlight a critical role for microglia in maintaining vascular integrity in the hypoxic spinal cord and have implications for many medical conditions related to hypoxia such as lung disease, sleep apnea, and age-related central nervous system ischemia.