Kevin Guttenplan, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), says astrocytes are like the “dark ...

Left: Astrocyte ensemble labeling using AstroLight. Using this tool, the authors obtained a spatial map of the astrocyte ensemble in the nucleus accumbens involved in a cue-motivated behavioral task.

When it comes to brain function, neurons get a lot of the glory. But healthy brains depend on the cooperation of many kinds of cells. The most abundant of the brain's non-neuronal cells are astrocytes ...

In animal models, social isolation triggers memory and learning deficits that are mediated by hyperactivity of the most abundant brain cell, the astrocyte. Importantly, inhibiting this hyperactivity ...

In a recent review published in Experimental & Molecular Medicine, researchers reviewed existing data on the neurodegenerative effects of astrocyte-derived lipocalin-2 (LCN-2). Study: Lipocalin-2: a ...

In a recent study published in Nature, researchers investigated whether glutamatergic gliotransmission was mediated by specialized astrocytes in the central nervous system. Study: Specialized ...

Astrocytes have been implicated in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, but these beautiful, star-shaped cells are notoriously difficult to study. Animal models are little help, because ...

People with depression have a distinguishing feature in their brains: They have fewer astrocytes, a type of star-shaped brain cell, compared with the brains of people without mental health disorders, ...

Astrocytes form large networks of interconnected cells in the central nervous system. When these cell-to-cell couplings are disrupted in the brain of adult mice, the animals are no longer able to ...

A growing body of research suggests astrocytes, star-shaped brain cells once dismissed as support players, may lead the way to more precise and effective psychiatric drugs. This fluorescent microscope ...