Inflammatory activation of microglia in the brains of prematurely born infants can lead to permanent neurological sequelae. Van Steenwinckel et al. show that a reduction in microglial Wnt signalling is necessary and sufficient to drive a microglial phenotype causing hypomyelination, and establish the Wnt pathway as a viable therapeutic target.

These results suggest that dexmedetomidine increased astrocyte expression of BDNF through an extracellular signal-regulated kinase-dependent pathway, inducing subsequent neuroprotective effects.