Here, Michael T. Heneka & team find the inflammasome adaptor ASC drives long-lasting brain inflammation and cognitive problems after mild head injury in a closed-head injury model.
The figure shows skeletonized activated microglia (Iba1+ cells) following closed head injury, with mice lacking ASC show showing preservation of morphological features, particularly at later time points.
3Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg.
4German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
5Department of Biotherapy, Cancer Center and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China.