Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States.
Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, United States; Department of Anesthesiology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan City, China.
Neurochem Int. 2019 Sep;128:70-84. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2019.04.005. Epub 2019 Apr 13.
The neurovascular unit, consisting of neurons, astrocytes, and vascular cells, has become the focus of much discussion in the last two decades and emerging literature now suggests an association between neurovascular dysfunction and neurological disorders. In this review, we synthesize the known and suspected contributions of astrocytes to neurovascular dysfunction in disease. Throughout the brain, astrocytes are centrally positioned to dynamically mediate interactions between neurons and the cerebral vasculature, and play key roles in blood-brain barrier maintenance and neurovascular coupling. It is increasingly apparent that the changes in astrocytes in response to a variety of insults to brain tissue -collectively referred to as "reactive astrogliosis" - are not just an epiphenomenon restricted to morphological alterations, but comprise functional changes in astrocytes that contribute to the phenotype of neurological diseases with both beneficial and detrimental effects. In the context of the neurovascular unit, astrocyte dysfunction accompanies, and may contribute to, blood-brain barrier impairment and neurovascular dysregulation, highlighting the need to determine the exact nature of the relationship between astrocyte dysfunction and neurovascular impairments. Targeting astrocytes may represent a new strategy in combinatorial therapeutics for preventing the mismatch of energy supply and demand that often accompanies neurological disorders.
神经血管单元由神经元、星形胶质细胞和血管细胞组成，在过去二十年中成为了许多讨论的焦点，新出现的文献表明神经血管功能障碍与神经紊乱之间存在关联。在这篇综述中，我们综合了已知和可疑的星形胶质细胞对疾病中神经血管功能障碍的贡献。在整个大脑中，星形胶质细胞处于中心位置，能够动态调节神经元和脑血管之间的相互作用，并在血脑屏障的维持和神经血管耦联中发挥关键作用。越来越明显的是，星形胶质细胞对各种脑组织损伤的反应变化——统称为“反应性星形胶质细胞增生”——不仅是一种局限于形态改变的附带现象，而且包括星形胶质细胞的功能变化，这些变化导致了具有有益和有害影响的神经紊乱表型。在神经血管单元的背景下，星形胶质细胞功能障碍伴随着血脑屏障损伤和神经血管调节异常，这突出表明需要确定星形胶质细胞功能障碍与神经血管损伤之间的确切关系。针对星形胶质细胞可能代表一种新的联合治疗策略，以预防神经紊乱中经常出现的能量供应和需求不匹配。
