Reactive astrocyte nomenclature, definitions, and future directions

Carole Escartin*, Elena Galea*, András Lakatos, James P. O’Callaghan, Gabor C. Petzold, Alberto Serrano-Pozo, Christian Steinhäuser, Andrea Volterra, Giorgio Carmignoto, Amit Agarwal, Nicola J. Allen, Alfonso Araque, Luis Barbeito, Ari Barzilai, Dwight E. Bergles, Gilles Bonvento, Arthur M. Butt, Wei Ting Chen, Martine Cohen-Salmon, Colm CunninghamBenjamin Deneen, Bart De Strooper, Blanca Díaz-Castro, Cinthia Farina, Marc Freeman, Vittorio Gallo, James E. Goldman, Steven A. Goldman, Magdalena Götz, Antonia Gutiérrez, Philip G. Haydon, Dieter H. Heiland, Elly M. Hol, Matthew G. Holt, Masamitsu Iino, Ksenia V. Kastanenka, Helmut Kettenmann, Baljit S. Khakh, Schuichi Koizumi, C. Justin Lee, Shane A. Liddelow, Brian A. MacVicar, Pierre Magistretti, Albee Messing, Anusha Mishra, Anna V. Molofsky, Keith K. Murai, Christopher M. Norris, Seiji Okada, Stéphane H.R. Oliet, João F. Oliveira, Aude Panatier, Vladimir Parpura, Marcela Pekna, Milos Pekny, Luc Pellerin, Gertrudis Perea, Beatriz G. Pérez-Nievas, Frank W. Pfrieger, Kira E. Poskanzer, Francisco J. Quintana, Richard M. Ransohoff, Miriam Riquelme-Perez, Stefanie Robel, Christine R. Rose, Jeffrey D. Rothstein, Nathalie Rouach, David H. Rowitch, Alexey Semyanov, Swetlana Sirko, Harald Sontheimer, Raymond A. Swanson, Javier Vitorica, Ina Beate Wanner, Levi B. Wood, Jiaqian Wu, Binhai Zheng, Eduardo R. Zimmer, Robert Zorec, Michael V. Sofroniew*, Alexei Verkhratsky*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

1221 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reactive astrocytes are astrocytes undergoing morphological, molecular, and functional remodeling in response to injury, disease, or infection of the CNS. Although this remodeling was first described over a century ago, uncertainties and controversies remain regarding the contribution of reactive astrocytes to CNS diseases, repair, and aging. It is also unclear whether fixed categories of reactive astrocytes exist and, if so, how to identify them. We point out the shortcomings of binary divisions of reactive astrocytes into good-vs-bad, neurotoxic-vs-neuroprotective or A1-vs-A2. We advocate, instead, that research on reactive astrocytes include assessment of multiple molecular and functional parameters—preferably in vivo—plus multivariate statistics and determination of impact on pathological hallmarks in relevant models. These guidelines may spur the discovery of astrocyte-based biomarkers as well as astrocyte-targeting therapies that abrogate detrimental actions of reactive astrocytes, potentiate their neuro- and glioprotective actions, and restore or augment their homeostatic, modulatory, and defensive functions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)312-325
Number of pages14
JournalNature Neuroscience
Volume24
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2021

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