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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Primary Cultures of Rat Astrocytes and Microglia and Their Use in the Study of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Published on: June 23, 2022
Astroglial calcium signalling in Alzheimer's disease
Alexei Verkhratsky1, J J Rodríguez-Arellano2, Vladimir Parpura3
1Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK; Achucarro Center for Neuroscience, IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011, Bilbao, Spain; Department of Neurosciences, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and CIBERNED, Leioa, Spain; University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, 603022, Russia; University of Ljubljana, Institute of Pathophysiology, Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology and Molecular Cell Physiology, Zaloska cesta 4, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Celica, BIOMEDICAL, Technology Park 24, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Abstract:
Neuroglial contribution to Alzheimer's disease (AD) is pathologically relevant and highly heterogeneous. Reactive astrogliosis and activation of microglia contribute to neuroinflammation, whereas astroglial and oligodendroglial atrophy affect synaptic transmission and underlie the overall disruption of the central nervous system (CNS) connectome. Astroglial function is tightly integrated with the intracellular ionic signalling mediated by complex dynamics of cytosolic concentrations of free Ca2+ and Na+. Astroglial ionic signalling is mediated by plasmalemmal ion channels, mainly associated with ionotropic receptors, pumps and solute carrier transporters, and by intracellular organelles comprised of the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria. The relative contribution of these molecular cascades/organelles can be plastically remodelled in development and under environmental stress. In AD astroglial Ca2+ signalling undergoes substantial reorganisation due to an abnormal regulation of expression of Ca2+ handling molecular cascades.
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