Heterogeneity of Astrocytic Form and Function

By N. Oberheim, S. Goldman, Maiken Nedergaard. Methods in molecular biology, 2012

605 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Astrocytes participate in all essential CNS functions, including blood flow regulation, energy metabolism, ion and water homeostasis, immune defence, neurotransmission, and adult neurogenesis. It is thus not surprising that astrocytic morphology and function differ between regions, and that different subclasses of astrocytes exist within the same brain region. Recent lines of work also show that the complexity of protoplasmic astrocytes increases during evolution. Human astrocytes are structurally more complex, larger, and propagate calcium signals significantly faster than rodent astrocytes. In this chapter, we review the diversity of astrocytic form and function, while considering the markedly expanded roles of astrocytes with phylogenetic evolution. We also define major challenges for the future, which include determining how astrocytic functions are locally specified, defining the molecular controls upon astrocytic fate and physiology and establishing how evolutionary changes in astrocytes contribute to higher cognitive functions.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Neurology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e7fef4135500299c82b1c3ac0e39405e4a97b7a7

Citations in the corpus

• Aging-related tau astrogliopathy (ARTAG): harmonized evaluation strategy (2015, neutral): “Protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes differ substantially in their glutamate uptake capabilities and capacity and have very different degrees of coupling, which are important with regard to their respective calcium wave signals, resting membrane potentials, potassium buffering, glutamate metabolism, ”