Astrocytes as essential time‐keepers of the central pacemaker

Autor: Mariana Astiz, Lina Maria Delgado-Garcia, Laura López-Mascaraque
Přispěvatelé: German Research Foundation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España), Fundación Ramón Areces, Sao Paulo Research Foundation
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Glia. 70:808-819
ISSN: 1098-1136
0894-1491
Popis: Since the early observations made by Santiago Ramon y Cajal more than a century ago till now, astrocytes have gradually gained protagonism as essential partners of neurons in building brain circuits that regulate complex behavior. In mammals, processes such as sleep–wake cycle, locomotor activity, cognition and memory consolidation, homeostatic and hedonic appetite and stress response (among others), are synchronized in 24-h rhythms by the circadian system. In such a way, physiology efficiently anticipates and adapts to daily recurring changes in the environment. The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is considered the central pacemaker, it has been traditionally described as a nucleus of around 10,000 neurons nearly all GABAergic able to be entrained by light and to convey time information through multiple neuronal and hormonal pathways. Only recently, this neuro-centered view was challenged by breakthrough discoveries implicating astrocytes as essential time-keepers. In the present review, we will describe the current view on the SCN circuit and discuss whether astrocytic functions described in other brain regions and state-of-the-art experimental approaches, could help explaining better those well- and not so well-known features of the central pacemaker.
We are particularly grateful to Prof. Juan A. De Carlos for their expert help with Cajal original notebooks, from the Legado Cajal (Instituto Cajal-CSIC, Madrid, Spain). This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant AS547-1/1 (to MA), Spanish Research Grants PID2019-105218RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and CIVP9A5928 funded by Fundación Ramón Areces (to LL-M) and from the Brazilian Research Foundation Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES; Financial Code001) and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grants 2016/19084-8, 2019/09183-7 (to LMD-G). LMD-G received a grant from IBRO LARC Exchange Fellowships program.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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