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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.
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.
Aquaporin-4's overall function is to provide fast water transportation as well as maintain homeostatic balance within the central nervous system. This channel can transport water up to speeds of 3E9 molecules per second. [7] It is the primary water channel protein that reconciles the homeostasis of water in the CNS. [6]
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 ...
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless body fluid found within the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord of all vertebrates. CSF is produced by specialized ependymal cells in the choroid plexus of the ventricles of the brain, and absorbed in the arachnoid granulations. In humans, there is about 125 mL of CSF at any one time ...
Astrocytes maintain homeostasis of excitatory substances, such as extracellular potassium, by immediate uptake through specific potassium channels and sodium potassium pumps. It is also regulated by potassium spatial buffering via astrocyte networks where astrocytes are coupled through gap junctions.
The astrocytes of the glia limitans are responsible for separating the brain into two primary compartments. The first compartment is the immune-privileged brain and spinal cord parenchyma. This compartment contains multiple immunosuppressive cell surface proteins such as CD200 and CD95L and it allows for the release of anti-inflammatory factors.
Micrograph showing gliosis in the cerebellum. Reactive astrocytes on the left display severe proliferation and domain overlap. Reactive astrogliosis is the most common form of gliosis and involves the proliferation of astrocytes, a type of glial cell responsible for maintaining extracellular ion and neurotransmitter concentrations, modulating synapse function, and forming the blood–brain ...