Astrocytic modulation of blood brain barrier: perspectives on Parkinson?s disease

RICARDO CABEZAS, MARCOS ÁVILA, JANNETH GONZALEZ, RAMON SANTOS EL-BACHÁ, ELIANA BÁEZ, LUIS MIGUEL GARCÍA-SEGURA, JUAN CAMILO JURADO CORONEL, FRANCISCO CAPANI, GLORI PATRICIA CARDONA-GOMEZ AND GEORGE E. BARRETO

Frontier in cellular Neuroscience

Frontier

Año: 2014 p. 1 - 11

1662-5102

The blood?brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly regulated interface in the Central Nervous System(CNS) that regulates the exchange of molecules in and out from the brain thus maintainingthe CNS homeostasis. It is mainly composed of endothelial cells (ECs), pericytes andastrocytes that create a neurovascular unit (NVU) with the adjacent neurons. Astrocytesare essential for the formation and maintenance of the BBB by providing secreted factorsthat lead to the adequate association between the cells of the BBB and the formationof strong tight junctions. Under neurological disorders, such as chronic cerebral ischemia,brain trauma, Epilepsy, Alzheimer and Parkinson?s Diseases, a disruption of the BBB takesplace, involving a lost in the permeability of the barrier and phenotypical changes in boththe ECs and astrocytes. In this aspect, it has been established that the process of reactivegliosis is a common feature of astrocytes during BBB disruption, which has a detrimentaleffect on the barrier function and a subsequent damage in neuronal survival. In this reviewwe discuss the implications of astrocyte functions in the protection of the BBB, and in thedevelopment of Parkinson?s disease (PD) and related disorders. Additionally, we highlightthe current and future strategies in astrocyte protection aimed at the development ofrestorative therapies for the BBB in pathological conditions.