Zheng Yutian, Huang Rui, Pan Jie
San Domenico Upper School, San Anselmo, CA 94960, USA.
Stanford Graduate School of Education, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Aug 22;26(17):8155. doi: 10.3390/ijms26178155.
Intercellular communication in the central nervous system (CNS) is essential for maintaining neural function and coordinating responses to injury or disease. With recent advances in single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, a growing body of research has revealed that this communication is highly dynamic, shifting across states of health, aging, demyelination, and neurodegeneration. In this review, we synthesize the current findings on intercellular communication networks involving neurons, astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, and other glial populations in the CNS across four major states: healthy homeostasis, aging, demyelinating diseases, and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We focus on how changes in intercellular communication contribute to the maintenance or disruption of CNS integrity and function. Mechanistic insights into these signaling networks have revealed new molecular targets and pathways that may be exploited for therapeutic intervention. By comparing the intercellular signaling mechanisms across different disease contexts, we underscore the importance of CNS crosstalk not only as a hallmark of disease progression, but also as a potential gateway for precision therapy.
中枢神经系统（CNS）中的细胞间通讯对于维持神经功能以及协调对损伤或疾病的反应至关重要。随着单细胞和空间转录组学的最新进展，越来越多的研究表明这种通讯是高度动态的，会在健康、衰老、脱髓鞘和神经退行性变等状态之间发生变化。在本综述中，我们综合了目前关于中枢神经系统中涉及神经元、星形胶质细胞、小胶质细胞、少突胶质细胞和其他胶质细胞群体的细胞间通讯网络在四个主要状态下的研究结果：健康稳态、衰老、脱髓鞘疾病和阿尔茨海默病（AD）。我们关注细胞间通讯的变化如何促进中枢神经系统完整性和功能的维持或破坏。对这些信号网络的机制性见解揭示了可能用于治疗干预的新分子靶点和途径。通过比较不同疾病背景下的细胞间信号传导机制，我们强调了中枢神经系统串扰的重要性，它不仅是疾病进展的标志，也是精准治疗的潜在途径。
