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The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by the presence of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and gliosis, activated glial cells, in the brain. It is thought that Aβ plaques trigger NFT formation, neuronal cell death, neuroinflammation and gliosis a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Frost, Georgia R., Li, Yue-Ming
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746550/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29237809
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.170228
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author Frost, Georgia R.
Li, Yue-Ming
author_facet Frost, Georgia R.
Li, Yue-Ming
author_sort Frost, Georgia R.
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description Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by the presence of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and gliosis, activated glial cells, in the brain. It is thought that Aβ plaques trigger NFT formation, neuronal cell death, neuroinflammation and gliosis and, ultimately, cognitive impairment. There are increased numbers of reactive astrocytes in AD, which surround amyloid plaques and secrete proinflammatory factors and can phagocytize and break down Aβ. It was thought that neuronal cells were the major source of Aβ. However, mounting evidence suggests that astrocytes may play an additional role in AD by secreting significant quantities of Aβ and contributing to overall amyloid burden in the brain. Astrocytes are the most numerous cell type in the brain, and therefore even minor quantities of amyloid secretion from individual astrocytes could prove to be substantial when taken across the whole brain. Reactive astrocytes have increased levels of the three necessary components for Aβ production: amyloid precursor protein, β-secretase (BACE1) and γ-secretase. The identification of environmental factors, such as neuroinflammation, that promote astrocytic Aβ production, could redefine how we think about developing therapeutics for AD.
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spelling pubmed-57465502017-12-31 The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease Frost, Georgia R. Li, Yue-Ming Open Biol Review Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by the presence of extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and gliosis, activated glial cells, in the brain. It is thought that Aβ plaques trigger NFT formation, neuronal cell death, neuroinflammation and gliosis and, ultimately, cognitive impairment. There are increased numbers of reactive astrocytes in AD, which surround amyloid plaques and secrete proinflammatory factors and can phagocytize and break down Aβ. It was thought that neuronal cells were the major source of Aβ. However, mounting evidence suggests that astrocytes may play an additional role in AD by secreting significant quantities of Aβ and contributing to overall amyloid burden in the brain. Astrocytes are the most numerous cell type in the brain, and therefore even minor quantities of amyloid secretion from individual astrocytes could prove to be substantial when taken across the whole brain. Reactive astrocytes have increased levels of the three necessary components for Aβ production: amyloid precursor protein, β-secretase (BACE1) and γ-secretase. The identification of environmental factors, such as neuroinflammation, that promote astrocytic Aβ production, could redefine how we think about developing therapeutics for AD. The Royal Society 2017-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC5746550/ /pubmed/29237809 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.170228 Text en © 2017 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Review
Frost, Georgia R.
Li, Yue-Ming
The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title_full The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title_fullStr The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title_full_unstemmed The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title_short The role of astrocytes in amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease
title_sort role of astrocytes in amyloid production and alzheimer's disease
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746550/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29237809
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsob.170228
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