Table 1.

In vitro engulfment assays.

Samples	Type of cells	Engulfed substrates	Techniques adopted	References
Cell lines	Microglia cell line BV-2	Fluorescent beads	Fluorescent microscopy, Flow cytometry	(100)
	Microglial cell line MMGT12	Fluorescent beads	Flow cytometry	(101)
	Microglial cell line BV-2	Synaptosomes	Fluorescent microscopy	(102)
iPC-derived microglia	Induced Microglia Like Cells (iMGL)	Synaptosomes	Fluorescent microscopy	(103, 104)
Primary cultures	Newborn microglia	Fluorescent beads and liposomes (DiO Labeled)	Fluorescent microscopy	(21)
		fluorescent beads	Fluorescent microscopy, Flow cytometry	(20)
		Fluorescent bioparticles	Fluorescent microscopy	(105)
	Adult microglia	Ultraviolet-irradiated (UV-irr) dead neurons	Fluorescent microscopy	(78)
		Fluorescent microspheres	Fluorescent microscopy	(62)
	Macrophages	Bacteria and cancer cells	CyTOF	(106)

The table reports some commonly used experimental approaches to study microglial phagocytosis in vitro.