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Biomolecules
Special Issues
Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy
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Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2021) | Viewed by 35967

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Katarzyna Kuter

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Guest Editor
Dept Neuropsychopharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 12 Smetna Street, 31-343 Kraków, Poland
Interests: Parkinson’s disease; functional compensation; energy metabolism; glia physiology; glia-based disease-modifying therapy
Dr. Agnieszka Jurga

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Guest Editor
Dept Neuropsychopharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 12 Smetna Street, 31-343 Kraków, Poland
Interests: microglia–astroglia interactions; glia phenotypes; pharmacological modulation of glia in preclinical studies; glia-driven neuronal dysfunction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Astroglial cells are the stars of the currently prepared Special Issue for the journal Biomolecules.

At first, perceived merely as brain glue, in recent years astrocytes have gained interest in central nervous system (CNS) research. They have a unique role in energy metabolism, intercellular communication and the maintenance of CNS homeostasis. Their functions are of high importance and have a broad spectrum, which is reflected in their phenotypic heterogeneity. Until recently, astrocytes have been seen as protective and supporting allies of neurons. Now, its neurotoxic abilities are also known as a possible pathologic aspect and are studied intensively in the context of the majority of neurological diseases. Attention is paid to the spectrum of phenotypic changes between neuroprotective and cytotoxic astrocytes, and to the factors that can induce the shift between those states and become therapeutic. Additionally to the multiple supportive functions, astrocytic ability to proliferate despite organism aging gives them an advantage in becoming a valid target for the putative neuroprotective therapies.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather new perspectives, which would lead to broaden the knowledge about astrocytes in the CNS physiology, pathology and potential therapies.

Dr. Katarzyna Kuter
Dr. Agnieszka Jurga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • physiological heterogeneity
  • astroglia polarization
  • cytotoxicity
  • neuroprotection
  • glia-based therapy

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Review

19 pages, 1381 KiB  
Review
Extracellular Calcium Influx Pathways in Astrocyte Calcium Microdomain Physiology
by Noushin Ahmadpour, Meher Kantroo and Jillian L. Stobart
Biomolecules 2021, 11(10), 1467; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11101467 - 6 Oct 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4992
Abstract
Astrocytes are complex glial cells that play many essential roles in the brain, including the fine-tuning of synaptic activity and blood flow. These roles are linked to fluctuations in intracellular Ca2+ within astrocytes. Recent advances in imaging techniques have identified localized Ca [...] Read more.
Astrocytes are complex glial cells that play many essential roles in the brain, including the fine-tuning of synaptic activity and blood flow. These roles are linked to fluctuations in intracellular Ca2+ within astrocytes. Recent advances in imaging techniques have identified localized Ca2+ transients within the fine processes of the astrocytic structure, which we term microdomain Ca2+ events. These Ca2+ transients are very diverse and occur under different conditions, including in the presence or absence of surrounding circuit activity. This complexity suggests that different signalling mechanisms mediate microdomain events which may then encode specific astrocyte functions from the modulation of synapses up to brain circuits and behaviour. Several recent studies have shown that a subset of astrocyte microdomain Ca2+ events occur rapidly following local neuronal circuit activity. In this review, we consider the physiological relevance of microdomain astrocyte Ca2+ signalling within brain circuits and outline possible pathways of extracellular Ca2+ influx through ionotropic receptors and other Ca2+ ion channels, which may contribute to astrocyte microdomain events with potentially fast dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy)
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21 pages, 2243 KiB  
Review
Inhibition of Astrocytic Histamine N-Methyltransferase as a Possible Target for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
by Cecilia Flores-Clemente, María Inés Nicolás-Vázquez, Elvia Mera Jiménez and Maricarmen Hernández-Rodríguez
Biomolecules 2021, 11(10), 1408; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11101408 - 26 Sep 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5803
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents the principal cause of dementia among the elderly. Great efforts have been established to understand the physiopathology of AD. Changes in neurotransmitter systems in patients with AD, including cholinergic, GABAergic, serotoninergic, noradrenergic, and histaminergic changes have been reported. Interestingly, [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents the principal cause of dementia among the elderly. Great efforts have been established to understand the physiopathology of AD. Changes in neurotransmitter systems in patients with AD, including cholinergic, GABAergic, serotoninergic, noradrenergic, and histaminergic changes have been reported. Interestingly, changes in the histaminergic system have been related to cognitive impairment in AD patients. The principal pathological changes in the brains of AD patients, related to the histaminergic system, are neurofibrillary degeneration of the tuberomammillary nucleus, the main source of histamine in the brain, low histamine levels, and altered signaling of its receptors. The increase of histamine levels can be achieved by inhibiting its degrading enzyme, histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT), a cytoplasmatic enzyme located in astrocytes. Thus, increasing histamine levels could be employed in AD patients as co-therapy due to their effects on cognitive functions, neuroplasticity, neuronal survival, neurogenesis, and the degradation of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides. In this sense, the evaluation of the impact of HNMT inhibitors on animal models of AD would be interesting, consequently highlighting its relevance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy)
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Graphical abstract

20 pages, 895 KiB  
Review
Exocytosis in Astrocytes
by Aleksandra Mielnicka and Piotr Michaluk
Biomolecules 2021, 11(9), 1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11091367 - 16 Sep 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6300
Abstract
Until recently, astrocytes were thought to be a part of a simple “brain glue” providing only a supporting role for neurons. However, the discoveries of the last two decades have proven astrocytes to be dynamic partners participating in brain metabolism and actively influencing [...] Read more.
Until recently, astrocytes were thought to be a part of a simple “brain glue” providing only a supporting role for neurons. However, the discoveries of the last two decades have proven astrocytes to be dynamic partners participating in brain metabolism and actively influencing communication between neurons. The means of astrocyte-neuron communication are diverse, although regulated exocytosis has received the most attention but also caused the most debate. Similar to most of eukaryotic cells, astrocytes have a complex range of vesicular organelles which can undergo exocytosis as well as intricate molecular mechanisms that regulate this process. In this review, we focus on the components needed for regulated exocytosis to occur and summarise the knowledge about experimental evidence showing its presence in astrocytes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy)
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28 pages, 1060 KiB  
Review
Beyond the GFAP-Astrocyte Protein Markers in the Brain
by Agnieszka M. Jurga, Martyna Paleczna, Justyna Kadluczka and Katarzyna Z. Kuter
Biomolecules 2021, 11(9), 1361; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom11091361 - 14 Sep 2021
Cited by 157 | Viewed by 17884
Abstract
The idea of central nervous system as one-man band favoring neurons is long gone. Now we all are aware that neurons and neuroglia are team players and constant communication between those various cell types is essential to maintain functional efficiency and a quick [...] Read more.
The idea of central nervous system as one-man band favoring neurons is long gone. Now we all are aware that neurons and neuroglia are team players and constant communication between those various cell types is essential to maintain functional efficiency and a quick response to danger. Here, we summarize and discuss known and new markers of astroglial multiple functions, their natural heterogeneity, cellular interactions, aging and disease-induced dysfunctions. This review is focused on newly reported facts regarding astrocytes, which are beyond the old stereotypes. We present an up-to-date list of marker proteins used to identify a broad spectrum of astroglial phenotypes related to the various physiological and pathological nervous system conditions. The aim of this review is to help choose markers that are well-tailored for specific needs of further experimental studies, precisely recognizing differential glial phenotypes, or for diagnostic purposes. We hope it will help to categorize the functional and structural diversity of the astroglial population and ease a clear readout of future experimental results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Astroglia in Physiology, Pathology and Therapy)
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