Astrocyte maturation and susceptibility to ischaemia or substrate deprivation

We demonstrate that immature astrocytes die much earlier than mature astrocytes when substrate is deprived in the presence of oxygen. In contrast, mature astrocytes die much earlier than immature astrocytes when substrate is deprived in the absence of oxygen. These observations correlate well with the recent findings that the newborn rodent brain is more susceptible to damage from lack of substrate than from lack of oxygen. The basis for this susceptibility of immature astrocytes to substrate deprivation in the presence of oxygen is not clear, but perhaps is related to the ability of the cell to scavenge free radicals.