Astrocyte plasticity induced by emotional stress: A new partner in psychiatric physiopathology?

CRHISTIAN L. BENDER, GASTON D. CALFA, VICTOR A. MOLINA.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 65 p. 68 - 68

growing body of evidence has demonstrated that astrocytes play a pivotal role in the normal functioning of thenervous system. This new conceptual framework has set the groundwork to be able to hypothesize that astrocytescould underlie signs and symptoms of mental diseases. Stress is a major risk factor in the etiology of severalpsychiatric diseases, such as anxiety disorders and depression. Hence, understanding the effects of stress on astrocytesand howthese changes contribute to the development of psychiatric endophenotypes is crucial for botha better comprehension of mental illness and for potential targeted treatment of stress-related mental disorders.Here, we describe the currently used approaches and recent evidence showing astrocyte alterations induced bychronic and acute stress in animals. In addition, the relevance of these changes in stress-induced behavioral sequelaeand human data linking astrocyteswith neuropsychiatric disorders related to stress are also discussed. Alltog