The role of astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease, A systematic review

Relationship between Astrocytes and Alzheimer

Abstract

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disease in the world, appears in two forms, early and late. Pathologically, an amyloid beta peptide is the hallmark of this disease which is followed by synaptic dysfunction, brain atrophy, and accumulation of neuronal tangles. The purpose of this study is to review the researchers on astrocytes' role in the progress of AD.

Materials and Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in databases articles focusing on key terms "Inflammatory reactions", "Alzheimer's disease", "Inflammatory factors" and "Astrocytes" and Boolean operators. Articles before 2001 were removed.

Results: Finally, After analyzing the selected articles, 20 articles were extracted and included in this review.

Conclusion: Astrocytes are a group of glial cells in the central nervous system. The inflammatory activity of astrocytes plays a role in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease. They strengthen the function of synapses by secreting neurotrophic factors. They also clear amyloid beta peptides from nerve tissue. Amyloid beta peptides bind to specific receptors on these cells and change the activity of these cells from anti-inflammatory to inflammatory type.

It seems that astrocytes play a pivotal role in the development and progression of AD, particularly at the late stage of the disease. Finding a rational strategy to suppress inflammatory A1 phenotype might be a promising tool to slow down the progress of AD.