Department of Pediatrics, Neurological Surgery and Edythe Broad Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regeneration Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA.
Department of Paediatrics and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 OQQ, UK.
Nat Rev Neurosci. 2017 Jan;18(1):31-41. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.159. Epub 2016 Dec 1.
Although it is well established that all brain regions contain various neuronal subtypes with different functions, astrocytes have traditionally been thought to be homogenous. However, recent evidence has shown that astrocytes in the mammalian CNS display distinct inter- and intra-regional features, as well as functional diversity. In the CNS, astrocyte processes fill the local environment in non-overlapping domains. Therefore, a potential advantage of region-specified astrocytes might be their capacity to regulate local development or optimize local neural circuit function. An overview of the regional heterogeneity of neuron-astrocyte interactions indicates novel ways in which they could regulate normal neurological function and shows how they might become dysregulated in disease.
尽管已经确定所有脑区都包含具有不同功能的各种神经元亚型，但传统上认为星形胶质细胞是同质的。然而，最近的证据表明，哺乳动物中枢神经系统中的星形胶质细胞表现出明显的区域间和区域内特征以及功能多样性。在中枢神经系统中，星形胶质细胞突起在非重叠的区域充满局部环境。因此，区域特异性星形胶质细胞的一个潜在优势可能是它们调节局部发育或优化局部神经回路功能的能力。神经元-星形胶质细胞相互作用的区域异质性概述表明了它们调节正常神经功能的新方法，并展示了它们在疾病中可能失调的方式。
