Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
Neuroscientist. 2023 Aug;29(4):445-460. doi: 10.1177/10738584221082620. Epub 2022 Apr 2.
Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cell in the central nervous system and occupy a wide range of roles that are essential for brain function. Over the past few years, evidence has emerged that astrocytes exhibit cellular and molecular heterogeneity, raising the possibility that subsets of astrocytes are functionally distinct and that transcriptional mechanisms are involved in encoding this prospective diversity. In this review, we focus on three emerging areas of astrocyte biology: region-specific circuit regulation, molecular diversity, and transcriptional regulation. This review highlights our nascent understanding of how molecular diversity is converted to functional diversity of astrocytes through the lens of brain region-specific circuits. We articulate our understanding of how transcriptional mechanisms regulate this diversity and key areas that need further exploration to achieve the overarching goal of a functional taxonomy of astrocytes in the brain.
星形胶质细胞是中枢神经系统中最丰富的神经胶质细胞，它们具有广泛的功能，对大脑功能至关重要。在过去的几年中，有证据表明星形胶质细胞表现出细胞和分子异质性，这使得人们有可能认为星形胶质细胞的亚群在功能上是不同的，并且转录机制参与了这种潜在的多样性的编码。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了星形胶质细胞生物学的三个新兴领域：区域特异性回路调节、分子多样性和转录调控。本综述通过脑区特异性回路的视角突出了我们对分子多样性如何转化为星形胶质细胞功能多样性的初步认识。我们阐明了我们对转录机制如何调节这种多样性的理解，以及需要进一步探索的关键领域，以实现大脑中星形胶质细胞功能分类学的总体目标。
