The Fault in Our Astrocytes - cause or casualties of proteinopathies of ALS/FTD and other neurodegenerative diseases?

Many neurodegenerative diseases fall under the class of known as proteinopathies, whereby structure and localization specific proteins become abnormal. These aberrant often aggregate within cells which disrupts vital homeostatic physiological cellular functions, ultimately contributing to cell death. Although disease research is typically neurocentric, there evidence supporting role non-neuronal in pathogenesis these diseases. Specifically, astrocytes has been an ever-growing area research. Astrocytes are one most abundant types central nervous system (CNS) provide array essential functions that disrupted can exhibit a reactive phenotype characterized by molecular changes, well changes morphology function. In diseases, potential for assume loss-of-function operations such synapse maintenance, neuronal metabolic support, facilitating cell-cell communication between glia neurons. They also able concurrently gain-of-function phenotypes be destructive neural networks themselves. Additionally, have shown internalize related reflect similar or exacerbated pathology observed Here, we review several major disease-specific proteinopathies what about their presence consequences regarding non-cell autonomous neurodegeneration.