Tag: Astrocytes

A new study published in Cell Stem Cell has shown how astrocytes, glial cells that perform multiple critical functions in the brain, can become neural stem cells (NSCs) in response to injury. Astrocytes' normal functions The term 'astrocyte', meaning star-shaped cell, refers to a very heterogenous population of cells that perform maintenance, management and constructive...

Researchers have found that blocking the activity of a single gene causes other cell types to become dopamine-producing neurons, a type of neuron that Parkinson’s disease destroys. What is Parkinson's disease? Parkinson's disease is a progressive, age-related, neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects the motor system and thus movement. Symptoms start gradually; sometimes it begins with...

In a recent study, a group of researchers from Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Feinberg School of Medicine, and Tel Aviv University examined astrocytes in mice and found that these cells exhibited a senescent phenotype that led to neurodegeneration and neurotoxicity [1]. Age-dependent increase in senescent astrocytes adjacent to Aβ plaques Cellular senescence, discovered in 1961...

Researchers from the Salk Institute have discovered that a protein called Chrdl1, secreted by astrocytes, is responsible for driving synapse maturation and limiting brain plasticity later in life [1]. Abstract In the developing brain, immature synapses contain calcium-permeable AMPA glutamate receptors (AMPARs) that are subsequently replaced with GluA2-containing calcium-impermeable AMPARs as synapses stabilize and mature....

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have implicated senescent cells in yet another age-related pathology—namely, Alzheimer's disease. Led by Dr. Darren Baker, the Mayo Clinic team discovered that clearing senescent microglia and astrocytes in murine brains leads to a much better prognosis for neurodegenerative disease [1]. Study abstract Cellular senescence, which is characterized by an irreversible...