Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2014, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (23): 2048-2052.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.147929

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Dynamic reactive astrocytes after focal ischemia

Shinghua Ding 1, 2   

  1. 1 Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, USA
    2 Department of Bioengineering, University of Missouri-Columbia, MO, USA
  • Received:2014-11-05 Online:2014-12-10 Published:2014-12-10
  • Contact: Shinghua Ding, Ph.D., Department of Bioengineering, University of Missouri-Columbia, Dalton Cardiovascular Aesearch Center, 134 Research Park Drive, Columbia, MO65211, USA, dings@missouri.edu.
  • Supported by:

     This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [Grant no. R01NS069726] and the American Heart Association Grant in Aid Grant [Grant no. 13GRNT17020004] to SD.

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Abstract:

Astrocytes are specialized and most numerous glial cell type in the central nervous system and play important roles in physiology. Astrocytes are also critically involved in many neural disorders including focal ischemic stroke, a leading cause of brain injury and human death. One of the prominent pathological features of focal ischemic stroke is reactive astrogliosis and glial scar formation associated with morphological changes and proliferation. This review paper discusses the recent advances in spatial and temporal dynamics of morphology and proliferation of reactive astrocytes after ischemic stroke based on results from experimental animal studies. As reactive astrocytes exhibit stem cell-like properties, knowledge of dynamics of reactive astrocytes and glial scar formation will provide important insights for astrocyte-based cell therapy in stroke.

Key words: ischemic stroke, reactive astrocytes, glial scar, morphology, cell proliferation, dynamics, cell therapy