Microglia turned on

(Wiley) Part of the immune system in the brain is made up of so-called microglia cells. Korean and Singaporean researchers have now developed a fluorescent probe that specifically labels this type of macrophage. The cells were visualized in cell culture and in the live brains of rodents. As detailed in the journal Angewandte Chemie, a gene product expressed in microglia triggers the probe into a fluorescing state, which is detected through live-cell fluorescence imaging.