... retrieval and memory extinction. Recent experiments provide strong evidence that, besides neurons, astrocytes crucially contribute to these higher brain functions. However, the complex interplay of astrocytes and neurons in local neuron–glia assemblies is far from being understood. Although important basic...

...Irene Fernández-González; Elena Galea Astrocytes generate ATP through glycolysis and mitochondrion respiration, using glucose, lactate, fatty acids, amino acids, and ketone bodies as metabolic fuels. Astrocytic mitochondria also participate in neuronal redox homeostasis and neurotransmitter...

...Paula Beltran-Lobo; Matthew J. Reid; Maria Jimenez-Sanchez; Alexei Verkhratsky; Beatriz G. Perez-Nievas; Wendy Noble Astrocytes are key homeostatic and defensive cells of the central nervous system (CNS). They undertake numerous functions during development and in adulthood to support and protect...

...João Victor Cabral-Costa; Alicia J. Kowaltowski Astrocytes are a heterogenous population of macroglial cells spread throughout the central nervous system with diverse functions, expression signatures, and intricate morphologies. Their subcellular compartments contain a distinct range...

...Ignacio Fernández-Moncada; Giovanni Marsicano Astrocytes are key players in brain homeostasis and function. During the last years, several studies have cemented this notion by showing that these cells respond to neuronal signals and, via the release of molecules that modulate and support synaptic...

... as a small cog in a highly complex machine is itself an oversimplification. Not only are they functionally coupled to enable the brain to operate, each cell type’s functions are themselves influenced by each other, in development, maturity, and also in disease. Astrocytes are a type of macroglia that occupy...

...Matthew G. Holt Astrocytes are ubiquitous within the central nervous system (CNS). These cells possess many individual processes which extend out into the neuropil, where they interact with a variety of other cell types, including neurons at synapses. Astrocytes are now known to be active players...

...Angeles Almeida; Daniel Jimenez-Blasco; Juan P. Bolaños Astrocytes show unique anatomical, morphological, and metabolic features to take up substrates from the blood and metabolize them for local delivery to active synapses to sustain neuron function. In the present review, we specifically focus...

... collaboration between neurons and astrocytes. In this essay, we outline and discuss the fundamental roles of astrocytes in regulating synaptic GABA signaling. A major fraction of synaptic GABA is removed from the synapse by astrocytic uptake. Astrocytes utilize GABA as a metabolic substrate to support glutamine...

...Juan P. Bolaños Astrocytes are a type of non-neuronal, glial cells, anatomically placed in the intersection between the brain blood vessels and other neural cells—including neurons. Such a strategic situation confers these cells a unique opportunity to sense circulating molecules and adapt...