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Astrocytes in Alzheimer’s Disease

Beyond amyloid: astrocyte responses in an aging brain.

The Nirva InstitutePublished 20267 min read
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Alzheimer’s disease has long been described in terms of amyloid plaques and tau tangles. Astrocyte biology is increasingly recognized as a co-participant in the disease process.

§ 1

Astrocyte responses in Alzheimer’s

Reactive astrocytes are consistently observed near amyloid plaques and are heterogeneous in phenotype.199,189


§ 2

Glymphatic implications

Impaired glymphatic clearance — dependent on astrocyte AQP4 channels — has been implicated in amyloid accumulation.192,194


§ 3

Emerging targets

Whether astrocyte-targeted therapies can complement amyloid- and tau-focused treatments is an active area of investigation.



Scientific References

Primary literature

AMA numeric style. Citation numbers are unified across the Nirva Life ecosystem — the same number refers to the same reference across every library article. Full registry is anchored in the Cornerstone Paper.

  1. 189.Liddelow SA, Guttenplan KA, Clarke LE, et al. Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia. Nature. 2017;541(7638):481-487. PubMed ↗
  2. 192.Iliff JJ, Wang M, Liao Y, et al. A paravascular pathway facilitates CSF flow through the brain parenchyma and the clearance of interstitial solutes, including amyloid-β. Sci Transl Med. 2012;4(147):147ra111. PubMed ↗
  3. 194.Rasmussen MK, Mestre H, Nedergaard M. The glymphatic pathway in neurological disorders. Lancet Neurol. 2018;17(11):1016-1024. PubMed ↗
  4. 199.Verkhratsky A, Rodrigues JJ, Pivoriunas A, Zorec R, Semyanov A. Astroglial atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease. Pflugers Arch. 2019;471(10):1247-1261. PubMed ↗

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