Bratisl Lek Listy. 2024;125(7):414-418. doi: 10.4149/BLL_2024_63.
Astrocytes undergo morphological and molecular changes in response to numerous pathological conditions.
Increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been reported as a characteristic feature of reactive astrocytes. However, GFAP-positive cells occur rarely in adult human brain cultures. These cultures are mostly composed of flat GFAP-negative "glia-like" cells, which remain poorly characterized in relation to reactive astrogliosis.
We examined the cultures from macroscopically injured and normal brain tissue from patients with brain trauma, gliomas, or brain metastases. Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical methods were used for reactive astrocytes detection.
The intensity of GFAP-positive staining was higher in reactive astrocytes in the brain tissue surrounding gliomas or metastases and lower in brain tissue damaged by traumatic injury. We did not observe any correlation between GFAP-positive reactive astrocytes in cultures and brain tissue. However, we found rapidly proliferating spindle-shaped cells in cultures prepared from injured brain tissue.
Present data demonstrate the unexplained phenomenon of disparate cell morphologies in cultures when prepared either from macroscopically normal or injured human brain tissue. While normal cultures are mainly comprised of flat cells, the cultures from severely damaged brain tissue may be entirely composed of spindle-shaped cells usually classified as fibroblasts. We suggest that this spindle-shaped cellular morphology is not specific for fibroblasts, but it rather can be interpreted as the most favorable shape for rapid cell proliferation under culture conditions. After brain trauma, unknown processes may be triggered, such as induced cell proliferation which can be revealed under culture condition. Accordingly, we conclude that spindle-shaped cells are activated precursors of glial cells (Fig. 3, Ref. 15).
星形胶质细胞在应对多种病理条件时会发生形态和分子变化。
胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）的表达增加已被报道为反应性星形胶质细胞的特征。然而，成年人大脑培养物中很少出现 GFAP 阳性细胞。这些培养物主要由扁平的 GFAP 阴性“胶质样”细胞组成，与反应性星形胶质细胞增生相关的特征在很大程度上仍未得到充分描述。
我们检查了来自脑外伤、脑肿瘤或脑转移患者的宏观损伤和正常脑组织的培养物。使用免疫荧光和免疫组织化学方法检测反应性星形胶质细胞。
在肿瘤或转移周围脑组织中的反应性星形胶质细胞中，GFAP 阳性染色的强度较高，而在创伤性损伤脑组织中则较低。我们在培养物中未观察到 GFAP 阳性反应性星形胶质细胞与脑组织之间的任何相关性。然而，我们在来自损伤脑组织的培养物中发现了快速增殖的纺锤形细胞。
目前的数据表明，从宏观上正常或损伤的人脑组织制备的培养物中存在未解释的细胞形态差异现象。虽然正常培养物主要由扁平细胞组成，但来自严重损伤脑组织的培养物可能完全由通常归类为成纤维细胞的纺锤形细胞组成。我们建议这种纺锤形细胞形态不是成纤维细胞所特有的，而是在培养条件下快速细胞增殖的最有利形状。在脑外伤后，可能会触发未知的过程，例如诱导的细胞增殖，这可以在培养条件下揭示。因此，我们得出结论，纺锤形细胞是神经胶质细胞的激活前体细胞（图 3，参考文献 15）。
