Regional characterization of astrocytes in the human brain

直到20世纪90年代，星形胶质细胞在很大程度上被认为是中枢神经系统的被动成分，主要为神经元提供结构支持。现在很清楚，星形胶质细胞是高度动态的细胞，对大脑网络的正常功能起着各种重要作用。然而，我们目前对这些细胞形态功能特性的了解主要来自动物模型，特别是啮齿动物模型的研究。尽管啮齿类动物和人类大脑的基本组织有许多相似之处，但在细胞水平上存在显著差异。我们和其他研究小组最近的研究表明，皮质星形胶质细胞比啮齿动物的同类细胞要复杂和多样得多。尽管最近有了这些发现，但关于人脑星形胶质细胞的细胞和亚细胞组织以及分子特性，仍有许多有待发现。特别是，对于其他非皮质脑区星形胶质细胞的形态计量学和分子特征几乎一无所知。

: Until the 1990s, astrocytes were largely considered to be passive components of the central nervous system, providing mainly structural support for neurons. It is now clear that astrocytes are highly dynamic cells that play a variety of roles that are essential for the proper function of cerebral networks. However, our current knowledge on the morpho-functional properties of these cells comes essentially from studies conducted with animal models, rodents in particular. Despite the many similarities in the basic organization of rodent and human brains, significant differences can exist at the cellular level. Our work as well as that of other groups have recently shown that cortical astrocytes are much more complex and diverse than their rodent counterparts. Despite these recent findings, much remains to be discovered regarding the cellular and subcellular organization and molecular properties of astrocytes in the human brain. In particular, virtually nothing is known about the morphometric and molecular features of astrocytes in other, non-cortical, brain regions.