Reactive Astrocytes: Production, Function, and Therapeutic Potential

Reactive gliosis and the multicellular response to CNS damage and disease.

Reactive astrocytes are astrocytes undergoing morphological, molecular, and functional remodeling in response to injury, disease, or infection of the CNS. Although this remodeling was first described over a century ago, uncertainties and controversies remain regarding the contribution of reactive astrocytes to CNS diseases, repair, and aging. It is also unclear whether fixed categories of reactive astrocytes exist and, if so, how to identify them. We point out the shortcomings of binary divisions of reactive astrocytes into good-vs-bad, neurotoxic-vs-neuroprotective or A1-vs-A2. We advocate, instead, that research on reactive astrocytes include assessment of multiple molecular and functional parameters-preferably in vivo-plus multivariate statistics and determination of impact on pathological hallmarks in relevant models. These guidelines may spur the discovery of astrocyte-based biomarkers as well as astrocyte-targeting therapies that abrogate detrimental actions of reactive astrocytes, potentiate their neuro- and glioprotective actions, and restore or augment their homeostatic, modulatory, and defensive functions.

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Reactive astrocyte nomenclature, definitions, and future directions

Astrocytes are the most abundant cells in the central nervous system (CNS) that provide nutrients, recycle neurotransmitters, as well as fulfill a wide range of other homeostasis maintaining functions During the past two decades, astrocytes emerged also as increasingly important regulators of neuronal functions including the generation of new nerve cells and structural as well as functional synapse remodeling Reactive gliosis or reactive astrogliosis is a term coined for the morphological and functional changes seen in astroglial cells/astrocytes responding to CNS injury and other neurological diseases Whereas this defensive reaction of astrocytes is conceivably aimed at handling the acute stress, limiting tissue damage, and restoring homeostasis, it may also inhibit adaptive neural plasticity mechanisms underlying recovery of function Understanding the multifaceted roles of astrocytes in the healthy and diseased CNS will undoubtedly contribute to the development of treatment strategies that will, in a context-dependent manner and at appropriate time points, modulate reactive astrogliosis to promote brain repair and reduce the neurological impairment

Astrocyte Reactivity and Reactive Astrogliosis: Costs and Benefits

In vivo direct reprogramming of reactive glial cells into functional neurons after brain injury and in an Alzheimer's disease model.

https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/bitstream/123456789/23319/1/Reactive%20Glia%20in%20the%20Injured%20Brain.pdf

Isabel Rebekka Fischer

Papers

Reactive Glia in the Injured Brain Acquire Stem Cell Properties in Response to Sonic Hedgehog

Erratum: Reactive glia in the injured brain acquire stem cell properties in response to sonic hedgehog (Cell Stem Cell (2013) 12 426-439))