Phatnani Hemali, Maniatis Tom
Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, New York, New York 10032.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2015 Apr 15;7(6):a020628. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a020628.
Astrocytes contribute to the maintenance of the health and function of the central nervous system (CNS). Thus, it is not surprising that these multifunctional cells have been implicated in the onset and progression of several neurodegenerative diseases. The involvement of astrocytes in the neuropathology of these diseases is likely a consequence of both the loss of normal homeostatic functions and gain of toxic functions. Intracellular aggregates in astrocytes are a common feature of various neurodegenerative diseases, and these aggregates perturb normal astrocytic functions in ways that can be harmful to neuronal viability. Here, we review the role of astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on their dysfunction in Huntington's disease (HD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
星形胶质细胞有助于维持中枢神经系统（CNS）的健康和功能。因此，这些多功能细胞与几种神经退行性疾病的发生和发展有关也就不足为奇了。星形胶质细胞参与这些疾病的神经病理学过程，可能是正常稳态功能丧失和毒性功能获得的共同结果。星形胶质细胞内的聚集体是各种神经退行性疾病的常见特征，这些聚集体以可能损害神经元活力的方式扰乱正常的星形胶质细胞功能。在这里，我们综述星形胶质细胞在神经退行性疾病中的作用，重点关注它们在亨廷顿病（HD）、帕金森病（PD）、阿尔茨海默病（AD）和肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）中的功能障碍。
