Submitted:
18 April 2022
Posted:
20 April 2022
You are already at the latest version
Abstract
Astrocytes are essential for normal brain development and functioning. They respond to brain injury and disease through a process referred to as reactive astrogliosis, where the reactivity is highly heterogenous and context dependent. Reactive astrocytes are active contributors to brain pathology and can exert beneficial, detrimental, or mixed effects following brain insults. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) has been identified as one of the key factors regulating astrocyte reactivity. Genetic and pharmacological manipulation of TGF-β signaling pathway in animal models of CNS injury and disease alters pathological and functional outcomes. This review aims to provide recent understanding regarding astrocyte reactivity and TGF-β signaling in brain injury, aging, and neurodegeneration. Further, it explores how TGF-β signaling modulates astrocyte reactivity and function.
Keywords:
astrocytes
; reactive astrogliosis
; TGF-β
; traumatic brain injury
; stroke
; aging
; Alzheimer’s disease
; Parkinson’s disease
; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
; multiple sclerosis
; epilepsy
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
