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A toxic reaction

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 18, page 130 (2017)Cite this article

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Brain injury and disease can induce astrocytes to enter a 'reactive' state in which gene expression is markedly changed. The function of these reactive astrocytes is debated, with different studies indicating that these cells promote damage to, or recovery of, the CNS. Now, Liddelow et al. show that activated microglia can induce a subtype of inflammation-associated reactive astrocytes that promotes neuron and oligodendrocyte death and that is found in various neurological disorders.

In a previous study, the authors discovered that lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an inflammatory stimulus, could induce reactive astrocytes — which they termed A1 astrocytes — that had a gene expression profile that differed from that exhibited by reactive astrocytes induced by ischaemic conditions. Here, the authors first examined how LPS induces A1 astrocytes.

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References

  1. Liddelow, S. A. et al. Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature21029 (2017)

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  1. Darran Yates
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Ben Haim, L. & Rowitch, D. H. Functional diversity of astrocytes in neural circuit regulation. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 18, 31–41 (2017)

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Yates, D. A toxic reaction. Nat Rev Neurosci 18, 130 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.13

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