The role of astrocytes on the pathogenesis of prion diseases

异常朊蛋白的积累、神经元变性、星形胶质增生和小胶质细胞活化是朊病毒疾病的特征。通过评估朊病毒感染的小鼠大脑，星形胶质细胞的激活往往比微生物的激活出现得更早。分析活化的星形胶质细胞对神经元的作用对了解朊病毒疾病的发病机制具有重要意义。然后，重点分析了星形胶质细胞中异常朊蛋白的定位。因此，异常的朊病毒蛋白主要出现在星形胶质细胞的溶酶体中。

The accumulation of abnormal prion protein, degeneration of neurons, astrogliosis and microglial activation are characteristics of prion diseases. By assessing prion-infected mouse brains, astrocyte activation tend to appeare earlier than microbial activation. To analyze the effects of activated astrocytes on neurons are important for understanding the pathogenesis of prion diseases. Then, the astrocytes are focused, especially the localization of abnormal prion protein in astrocytes were analyzed. As a result, the abnormal prion protein were mainly found to be in lysosome in astrocytes.