Tag: Astrocytes

With Alzheimer’s disease, most of the focus has been on neurons. A new study's researchers suggest boosting the process of cellular junk removal in astrocytes, brain cells that perform maintenance tasks, as a new pathway [1]. Looking at a different cell type Accumulation of amyloid beta, a misfolded protein, is undoubtedly one of the hallmarks...

In an in-depth paper in Nature, researchers have explained how astrocytes, helper cells that provide crucial brain functions, epigenetically remember things in a way that encourages inflammation. Traumatized cells Long-lived immune cells, including T cells and B cells, can remember foreign pathogens [1]. This is why people can become immune to diseases after catching them...

Publishing in Aging, a team of Chilean researchers has described a relationship between gene shifts in the brain and neurons not getting the energy they need. Greedy glia BrainThe brain is perhaps the most important organ in the body. While many organs are critical to our survival, the brain contains the self. It is responsible...

A new study published in Stem Cell Research and Therapy has shown that rejuvenating the astrocyte niche in the aged brains of mice leads to improved nervous system function at both the cellular and organismal levels [1]. A glia-centric approach In brain aging, neurons are quite literally only half of the story; the other half...

Researchers have identified an important mechanism of neurodegeneration that may be useful in treating age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia [1]. These neurons must die Age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, have become more prevalent mostly because of the successes of modern medicine. Today, more people become old enough to fall prey to...

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...