cells Review Astrocytes in Alzheimer’s Disease: Pathological Significance and Molecular Pathways Pranav Preman 1,2,† , Maria Alfonso-Triguero 3,4,†, Elena Alberdi 3,4,5, Alexei Verkhratsky 3,6,7,* and Amaia M. Arranz 3,7,* 1 VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;
[email protected] 2 Laboratory for the Research of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Department of Neurosciences, Leuven Brain Institute (LBI), KU Leuven (University of Leuven), 3000 Leuven, Belgium 3 Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience, 48940 Leioa, Spain;
[email protected] (M.A.-T.);
[email protected] (E.A.) 4 Department of Neurosciences, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain 5 Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), 48940 Leioa, Spain 6 Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK 7 Ikerbasque Basque Foundation for Science, 48009 Bilbao, Spain * Correspondence:
[email protected] (A.V.);
[email protected] (A.M.A.) † These authors contributed equally to this paper. Abstract: Astrocytes perform a wide variety of essential functions defining normal operation of the nervous system and are active contributors to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s among others. Recent data provide compelling evidence that distinct astrocyte states are associated with specific stages of Alzheimer´s disease. The advent of transcriptomics technologies enables rapid progress in the characterisation of such pathological astrocyte states. In this review, Citation: Preman, P.; Alfonso-Triguero, M.; Alberdi, E.; we provide an overview of the origin, main functions, molecular and morphological features of Verkhratsky, A.; Arranz, A.M.