Brain Research Center and State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Glia. 2017 Dec;65(12):1867-1884. doi: 10.1002/glia.23181. Epub 2017 Jun 20.
Rapid advances in Ca imaging techniques enable us to simultaneously monitor the activities of hundreds of astrocytes in the intact brain, thus providing a powerful tool for understanding the functions of both host and engrafted astrocytes in sensory processing in vivo. These techniques include both improved Ca indicators and advanced optical recording methods. Astrocytes in multiple cortical and sub-cortical areas are able to respond to the corresponding sensory modalities. These sensory stimuli produce astrocytic Ca responses through different cellular mechanisms. In addition, it has been suggested that astrocytic gene deficiencies in various sensory systems cause impairments in sensory circuits and cognition. Therefore, glial transplantation would be a potentially interesting approach for the cell-based therapy for glia-related disorders. There are multiple cell sources for glial transplantation, including neural stem cells, glial progenitors, and pluripotent stem cells. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have shown that engrafted astrocytes derived from these cell sources are capable of responding to sensory stimulation by elevating the intracellular Ca concentration. These results indicate that engrafted astrocytes not only morphologically but also functionally integrate into the host neural network. Until now, many animal studies have proven that glial transplantation would be a good choice for treating multiple glial disorders. Together, these studies on the sensory responses of host and engrafted astrocytes have provided us a novel perspective in both neuron-glia circuit functions and future treatment strategies for glial disorders.
钙成像技术的快速发展使我们能够同时监测完整大脑中数百个星形胶质细胞的活动，从而为理解宿主和移植星形胶质细胞在体内感觉处理中的功能提供了强大的工具。这些技术包括改进的钙指示剂和先进的光学记录方法。多个皮质和皮质下区域的星形胶质细胞能够对相应的感觉模式作出反应。这些感觉刺激通过不同的细胞机制产生星形胶质细胞的 Ca 反应。此外，有人认为，各种感觉系统中的星形胶质细胞基因缺陷导致感觉回路和认知障碍。因此，胶质细胞移植将是一种有前途的基于细胞的胶质相关疾病治疗方法。胶质细胞移植有多种细胞来源，包括神经干细胞、胶质祖细胞和多能干细胞。体外和体内研究都表明，源自这些细胞来源的移植星形胶质细胞能够通过升高细胞内 Ca 浓度来响应感觉刺激。这些结果表明，移植星形胶质细胞不仅在形态上，而且在功能上都与宿主神经网络整合在一起。到目前为止，许多动物研究已经证明，胶质细胞移植将是治疗多种胶质疾病的一个不错的选择。综上所述，宿主和移植星形胶质细胞的感觉反应研究为我们提供了一个新的视角，既涉及神经元-胶质细胞回路功能，也涉及胶质疾病的未来治疗策略。
