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  • Review Article
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Emerging roles for CNS fibroblasts in health, injury and disease

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 23, pages 23–34 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recent transcriptomic, histological and functional studies have begun to shine light on the fibroblasts present in the meninges, choroid plexus and perivascular spaces of the brain and spinal cord. Although the origins and functions of CNS fibroblasts are still being described, it is clear that they represent a distinct cell population, or populations, that have likely been confused with other cell types on the basis of the expression of overlapping cellular markers. Recent work has revealed that fibroblasts play crucial roles in fibrotic scar formation in the CNS after injury and inflammation, which have also been attributed to other perivascular cell types such as pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells. In this Review, we describe the current knowledge of the location and identity of CNS perivascular cell types, with a particular focus on CNS fibroblasts, including their origin, subtypes, roles in health and disease, and future areas for study.

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Fig. 1: Localization of fibroblasts in the adult mouse brain.
Fig. 2: Development of fibroblasts in different regions of the CNS.
Fig. 3: Organization of the glial and fibrotic scars.

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Acknowledgements

R.D. is funded by NIH/NINDS grants R01 NS091281and R01 NS103844, National Multiple Sclerosis Society Grant and the UCSF Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Science. C.E.D. is funded by the UCSD Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology through an institutional training grant (T32 GM007752) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and NIH/NINDS grant F31 NS108651. J.S. is funded by NIH/NINDS grant R01 NS098273.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Cayce E. Dorrier, Lucija Pintarić & Richard Daneman

  2. Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Cayce E. Dorrier, Lucija Pintarić & Richard Daneman

  3. Department of Pediatrics Section of Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    Hannah E. Jones & Julie A. Siegenthaler

  4. Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development Graduate Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    Hannah E. Jones & Julie A. Siegenthaler

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  1. Cayce E. Dorrier
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  2. Hannah E. Jones
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  3. Lucija Pintarić
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  4. Julie A. Siegenthaler
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All authors wrote the article. C.E.D., H.E.J., J.A.S. and R.D. reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Julie A. Siegenthaler or Richard Daneman.

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Nature Reviews Neuroscience thanks A. Montagne, M. Sofroniew, who co-reviewed with T. O’Shea, and B. Engelhardt for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Dorrier, C.E., Jones, H.E., Pintarić, L. et al. Emerging roles for CNS fibroblasts in health, injury and disease. Nat Rev Neurosci 23, 23–34 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-021-00525-w

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