The transport of lactate is an essential part of the concept of metabolic coupling between neurons and glia. Lactate transport in primary cultures of astroglial cells was shown to be mediated by a single saturable transport system with a Km value for lactate of 7.7 mM and a Vmax value of 250 nmol/(min x mg of protein). Transport was inhibited by a variety of monocarboxylates and by compounds kn...

We have recently demonstrated that reactive glial cells can be directly reprogrammed into functional neurons by a single neural transcription factor, NeuroD1. Here we report that a combination of small molecules can also reprogram human astrocytes in culture into fully functional neurons. We demonstrate that sequential exposure of human astrocytes to a cocktail of nine small molecules that inhi...

Fibroblast growth factor-2 is a pleiotrophic cytokine with neurotrophic and gliogenic properties. It is known to regulate CNS injury responses, which include transformation of reactive astrocytes, neurogenesis, and promotion of neurotrophic activities. In the brain, it is localized in astrocytes and discrete neuronal populations. Following both central and peripheral nervous system injury, astr...

A new technique capable of demonstrating the presence and cellular localization of the ganglioside GM1 in primary cultured cells from the brains of newborn rats is described. The method is based on the highly specific binding of biotinylated choleragen to ganglioside GM1, and takes advantage of the high affinity of avidin for biotin. Thus, the biotinylated choleragen-ganglioside GM1 complex can...

Liriope platyphylla (LP) has been used as a tonic, antitussive, and expectorant in Korea for many years. In this study, we found that the buthanol fraction of Liriope platyphylla (BLP)-conditioned media of C6 and primary astrocyte induced the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells, and that the effect was reversed by addition of nerve growth factor (NGF)-antibody and GF109203X, an inhibitor of protein...

introduction: astrocytes are the most abundant glial cell type. in addition to their neurological roles, astrocytes also have immune functions. they have been involved in antigen presentation in the central nervous system (cns). activated astrocytes express adhesion molecules, chemokines and release several inflammatory mediators, pro-inflammatory cytokines, neurotrophic and neuroprotective fac...

Astrocytes are organized as networks of communicating cells due to their high expression level of connexins, the molecular constituents of gap junction channels. Based on their permeability properties for ions and small signaling molecules such astroglial wiring interferes with neuronal activity and survival. In this paper, I identify and discuss which future technical and conceptual progress o...

Newly generated neuroblasts from the subventricular zone of the adult brain migrate as neuronal chains within a network of astroglial tubes in the rostral migratory stream. This highly directed, rapid migration channels new neurons to the olfactory bulb. In this issue of Neuron, Kaneko et al. demonstrate that migrating neurons dynamically remodel the morphology and organization of astroglial tu...

BACKGROUND: Desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma (DIG) is a rare WHO Grade I tumor of infancy that is characterized by large volume, superficial location, invariable supratentoriality, fronto-parietal lobe predilection and morphologically, by an admixture of astroglial and neuroepithelial elements in a desmoplastic milieu. With over 50 cases described, the histologic and radiographic spectrum o...