Matyash Vitali, Kettenmann Helmut
Cellular Neurosciences, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), 13092 Berlin, Germany.
Brain Res Rev. 2010 May;63(1-2):2-10. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresrev.2009.12.001. Epub 2009 Dec 11.
Astrocytes as a cell population are not well defined and comprise a heterogeneous population of cells. There are at least 9 different morphological variants which can coexist within one given brain region. Human astrocytes have a considerably more complex morphology as their rodent counterparts. There are also a number of functional differences depending on brain region and developmental stage in the normal (not pathologic) brain. Astrocytes can differ in functional gap junctional coupling, expression of transmitter receptors, membrane currents, and glutamate transporters. We feel that astrocyte heterogeneity has not yet been thoroughly explored and what we report here will just be a beginning of a new field of research.
作为一个细胞群体，星形胶质细胞尚未得到明确界定，并且由多种不同类型的细胞组成。在一个给定的脑区中，至少有9种不同的形态变体可以共存。与啮齿动物的星形胶质细胞相比，人类星形胶质细胞的形态要复杂得多。在正常（非病理）大脑中，根据脑区和发育阶段的不同，星形胶质细胞还存在许多功能差异。星形胶质细胞在功能性缝隙连接耦合、递质受体表达、膜电流和谷氨酸转运体方面可能存在差异。我们认为，星形胶质细胞的异质性尚未得到充分探索，我们在此报告的内容仅仅是一个新研究领域的开端。
