Research Progress on Microglia Polarization Regulation and Intervention Effect of Chinese Medicine After Ischemic Stroke

Microglia are recognized as the main cells mediating neuroinflammatory response, and their polarization into M1 or M2 phenotype is of great significance for improving the prognosis of ischemic stroke. After reviewing the literature on microglia in recent years, this paper summarized the changes in microglia polarization morphology as well as function at different time points after cerebral ischemia and elucidated the relationship between microglia and neurons, astrocytes, or other cells. Regulating TLRs/MyD88/NF-κB, JAK/STAT, Nrf2, and other signaling pathways can also directly affect the polarization level of microglia. Based on the above mechanism research results, this paper also enumerated effective Chinese medicine ingredients or compounds that can act on microglia which provide clinical guidance for traditional Chinese medical intervention on cerebral ischemia.