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Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a protein that is encoded by the GFAP gene in humans. [5] It is a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein that is expressed by numerous cell types of the central nervous system (CNS), including astrocytes [6] and ependymal cells during development. [7]
Astrocytes (green) in the context of neurons (red) in a mouse cortex cell culture 23-week-old fetal brain culture human astrocyte Astrocytes (red-yellow) among neurons (green) in the living cerebral cortex. Astrocytes are a sub-type of glial cells in the central nervous system. They are also known as astrocytic glial cells.
There are multiple disorders associated with improper GFAP regulation and glial scarring is a consequence of several neurodegenerative conditions. The scar is formed by astrocytes interacting with fibrous tissue to re-establish the glial margins around the central injury core and is partially caused by up-regulation of GFAP.
Astrocytes are known to facilitate changes in blood flow [7] [8] and have long been thought to play a role in waste removal in the brain. [9] Astrocytes express water channels called aquaporins. [10] Until 2000, no physiological function had been identified that explained their presence in the mammalian CNS.
Cellular extensions also known as cytoplasmic protrusions and cytoplasmic processes are those structures that project from different cells, in the body, or in other organisms. Many of the extensions are cytoplasmic protrusions such as the axon and dendrite of a neuron, known also as cytoplasmic processes. Different glial cells project ...
Since bergmann glia appear to persist in the cerebellum, and perform many of the roles characteristic of astrocytes, they have also been called "specialized astrocytes." [9] Bergmann glia have multiple radial processes that extend across the molecular layer of the cerebellar cortex and terminate at the pial surface as a bulbous endfoot. [11]
The major types of gliotransmitters released from astrocytes include glutamate and ATP.. Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter within the central nervous system that can also be defined as a gliotransmitter due to its ability to increase cytosolic Ca 2+ concentrations in astrocytes.
Glial cells known as astrocytes enlarge and proliferate to form a scar and produce inhibitory molecules that inhibit regrowth of a damaged or severed axon. In the peripheral nervous system (PNS), glial cells known as Schwann cells (or also as neuri-lemmocytes) promote repair. After axonal injury, Schwann cells regress to an earlier ...