TY - JOUR
T1 - Astrocytes
T2 - a central element in neurological diseases
AU - Pekny, Milos
AU - Pekna, Marcela
AU - Messing, Albee
AU - Steinhäuser, Christian
AU - Lee, Jin Moo
AU - Parpura, Vladimir
AU - Hol, Elly M.
AU - Sofroniew, Michael V.
AU - Verkhratsky, Alexei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2016/3/1
Y1 - 2016/3/1
N2 - The neurone-centred view of the past disregarded or downplayed the role of astroglia as a primary component in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases. As this concept is changing, so is also the perceived role of astrocytes in the healthy and diseased brain and spinal cord. We have started to unravel the different signalling mechanisms that trigger specific molecular, morphological and functional changes in reactive astrocytes that are critical for repairing tissue and maintaining function in CNS pathologies, such as neurotrauma, stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases. An increasing body of evidence shows that the effects of astrogliosis on the neural tissue and its functions are not uniform or stereotypic, but vary in a context-specific manner from astrogliosis being an adaptive beneficial response under some circumstances to a maladaptive and deleterious process in another context. There is a growing support for the concept of astrocytopathies in which the disruption of normal astrocyte functions, astrodegeneration or dysfunctional/maladaptive astrogliosis are the primary cause or the main factor in neurological dysfunction and disease. This review describes the multiple roles of astrocytes in the healthy CNS, discusses the diversity of astroglial responses in neurological disorders and argues that targeting astrocytes may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for Alexander disease, neurotrauma, stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.
AB - The neurone-centred view of the past disregarded or downplayed the role of astroglia as a primary component in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases. As this concept is changing, so is also the perceived role of astrocytes in the healthy and diseased brain and spinal cord. We have started to unravel the different signalling mechanisms that trigger specific molecular, morphological and functional changes in reactive astrocytes that are critical for repairing tissue and maintaining function in CNS pathologies, such as neurotrauma, stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases. An increasing body of evidence shows that the effects of astrogliosis on the neural tissue and its functions are not uniform or stereotypic, but vary in a context-specific manner from astrogliosis being an adaptive beneficial response under some circumstances to a maladaptive and deleterious process in another context. There is a growing support for the concept of astrocytopathies in which the disruption of normal astrocyte functions, astrodegeneration or dysfunctional/maladaptive astrogliosis are the primary cause or the main factor in neurological dysfunction and disease. This review describes the multiple roles of astrocytes in the healthy CNS, discusses the diversity of astroglial responses in neurological disorders and argues that targeting astrocytes may represent an effective therapeutic strategy for Alexander disease, neurotrauma, stroke, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.
KW - Alexander disease
KW - Alzheimer’s disease
KW - Astrocytes
KW - Astrocytopathies
KW - Astroglial cells
KW - Epilepsy
KW - Huntington disease
KW - Neurological diseases
KW - Neurotrauma
KW - Reactive astrogliosis
KW - Reactive gliosis
KW - Stroke
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958116560&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00401-015-1513-1
DO - 10.1007/s00401-015-1513-1
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26671410
AN - SCOPUS:84958116560
SN - 0001-6322
VL - 131
SP - 323
EP - 345
JO - Acta Neuropathologica
JF - Acta Neuropathologica
IS - 3
ER -