Microglia Sculpt Sex Differences in Social Behavior

Microglia are increasingly recognized as developmental sculptors of neural circuits. In this issue of Neuron, VanRyzin et al. (2019) VanRyzin J.W. Marquardt A.E. Argue K.J. Vecchiarelli H.A. Ashton S.E. Arambula S.E. Hill M.N. McCarthy M.M. Microglial phagocytosis of newborn cells is induced by endocannabinoids and sculpts sex differences in juvenile rat social play. Neuron. 2019; 102 ( this issue) : 435-449 Google Scholar demonstrate a novel mechanism by which endocannabinoids drive microglia to phagocytose newborn astrocytes in the medial amygdala of male rats, promoting sex differences in social play behavior