The current findings have several limitations, a primary one being that these studies were done using enriched cultures of primary rat microglia, which differ from acutely isolated brain microglia in terms of gene expression and function. It is therefore important that analogous studies be carried out to test the effects of alcohol consumption on the microglial transcriptome, and on amyloid phagocytosis, in a transgenic mouse model of amyloid deposition. Second, we only evaluated effects of a single acute exposure to ethanol, which likely will differ from effects following chronic exposure. Since alcohol consumption in humans can involve periods of consumption followed by periods of withdrawal, it is important to determine how withdrawal influences microglial gene expression and phagocytosis.
