Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Glia. 2020 Apr;68(4):685-704. doi: 10.1002/glia.23771. Epub 2020 Jan 11.
Human astrocytes provide trophic as well as structural support to the surrounding brain cells. Furthermore, they have been implicated in many physiological processes important for central nervous system function. Traditionally astrocytes have been considered to be a homogeneous class of cells, however, it has increasingly become more evident that astrocytes can have very different characteristics in different regions of the brain, or even within the same region. In this review we will discuss the features of human astrocytes, their heterogeneity, and their generation during neurodevelopment and the extraordinary progress that has been made to model these fascinating cells in vitro, mainly from induced pluripotent stem cells. Astrocytes' role in disease will also be discussed with a particular focus on their role in neurodegenerative disorders. As outlined here, astrocytes are important for the homeostasis of the central nervous system and understanding their regional specificity is a priority to elucidate the complexity of the human brain.
人类星形胶质细胞为周围的脑细胞提供营养和结构支持。此外，它们还参与了许多对中枢神经系统功能很重要的生理过程。传统上，星形胶质细胞被认为是一类同质的细胞，但越来越明显的是，星形胶质细胞在大脑的不同区域，甚至在同一区域，也可能具有非常不同的特征。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论人类星形胶质细胞的特征、它们的异质性以及它们在神经发育过程中的产生，以及在体外模拟这些迷人细胞方面所取得的非凡进展，主要是从诱导多能干细胞。我们还将讨论星形胶质细胞在疾病中的作用，特别关注它们在神经退行性疾病中的作用。如本文所述，星形胶质细胞对中枢神经系统的内稳态很重要，了解它们的区域特异性是阐明人类大脑复杂性的优先事项。
