BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence that glial cells play a role in the pathomechanisms of mood disorders and the mode of action of antidepressant drugs. METHODS To examine whether there is a direct effect on the expression of different genes encoding proteins that have been implicated in the pathophysiology of affective disorders, primary astrocyte cell cultures from rats were treated wi...

N-Methyl ebselenamines carrying an aminic group in very close proximity to selenium as excellent chain-breaking and glutathione peroxidase-like antioxidants could reduce the production of ROS C6 astroglial cell lines with minimal toxic effects.

ATP is an important neuronal and astroglial signaling molecule in the brain. In the present study, brain slices were prepared from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of Wistar rats and 2 lines of mice. P2X₇ receptor immunoreactivity was colocalized with astro- and microglial but not neuronal markers. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings showed that, in astroglial cells, dibenzoyl-ATP (BzATP) and ATP caus...

To analyze how astroglial cells attain the complex shapes that support neuronal migration and positioning in vitro (Hatten et al., 1984; Hatten 1985), early postnatal mouse cerebellar cells were plated in microcultures, and glial process outgrowth was monitored by high-resolution time-lapse video microscopy combined with immunocytochemical localization of antisera to glial filament protein (GFP...

This article provides an overview of different brain insults leading to induction of astroglial NGF expression. It discusses mechanisms of induction of astroglial NGF in a damaged brain and a possible role of its expression in pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. It emphasizes that the pharmacological manipulation of astroglial production of NGF may serve as a possible therapeutic strategy t...

Monoclonal antibodies raised against highly purified protein kinase C were used to localize protein kinase C in the rat brain. Using various monoclonal antibodies, at least three distinct antibody-staining patterns were found. One monoclonal antibody exclusively labeled astroglial elements, including astrocytes, tanycytes, and cerebellar radial glia. Another monoclonal antibody exclusively labe...

The name astroglia unifies many non-excitable neural cells that act as primary homeostatic cells in the nervous system. Neuronal activity triggers multiple homeostatic responses of astroglia that include increase in metabolic activity and synthesis of neuronal preferred energy substrate lactate, clearance of neurotransmitters and buffering of extracellular K+ ions to name but a few. Many (if no...

Heat shock protein (HSP) 25 (murine/rodent 25 kDa, human 27 kDa) is one of the major astroglial HSP families, which has a potent anti-apoptotic factor contributing to a higher resistance of astrocytes to the stressful condition. However, impaired removals of HSP25 decrease astroglial viability. In the present study, we investigated whether HSP25 is involved in astroglial apoptosis or clasmatode...