Development of the microglial phenotype in culture.

•Morphological, molecular and functional aspects of cultured microglia were studied.•TI values revealed the evolving microglial morphology during culturing.•Microglia with TI<3 were more active in phagocytosing than the ramified forms.•HLA DP, DQ, DR-positive microglia were exclusively ameboid.•CD11b/c-labeled microglia were typically less ramified than the Iba1-labeled cells.