PMID- 35269435
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220411
LR  - 20220411
IS  - 2073-4409 (Electronic)
IS  - 2073-4409 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 5
DP  - 2022 Feb 25
TI  - Metabolic Contribution and Cerebral Blood Flow Regulation by Astrocytes in the 
      Neurovascular Unit.
LID - 10.3390/cells11050813 [doi]
LID - 813
AB  - The neurovascular unit (NVU) is a conceptual framework that has been proposed to 
      better explain the relationships between the neural cells and blood vessels in 
      the human brain, focused mainly on the brain gray matter. The major components of 
      the NVU are the neurons, astrocytes (astroglia), microvessels, pericytes, and 
      microglia. In addition, we believe that oligodendrocytes should also be included 
      as an indispensable component of the NVU in the white matter. Of all these 
      components, astrocytes in particular have attracted the interest of researchers 
      because of their unique anatomical location; these cells are interposed between 
      the neurons and the microvessels of the brain. Their location suggests that 
      astrocytes might regulate the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in response to neuronal 
      activity, so as to ensure an adequate supply of glucose and oxygen to meet the 
      metabolic demands of the neurons. In fact, the adult human brain, which accounts 
      for only 2% of the entire body weight, consumes approximately 20-25% of the total 
      amount of glucose and oxygen consumed by the whole body. The brain needs a 
      continuous supply of these essential energy sources through the CBF, because 
      there are practically no stores of glucose or oxygen in the brain; both acute and 
      chronic cessation of CBF can adversely affect brain functions. In addition, 
      another important putative function of the NVU is the elimination of heat and 
      waste materials produced by neuronal activity. Recent evidence suggests that 
      astrocytes play pivotal roles not only in supplying glucose, but also fatty acids 
      and amino acids to neurons. Loss of astrocytic support can be expected to lead to 
      malfunction of the NVU as a whole, which underlies numerous neurological 
      disorders. In this review, we shall focus on historical and recent findings with 
      regard to the metabolic contributions of astrocytes in the NVU.
FAU - Takahashi, Shinichi
AU  - Takahashi S
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0903-3891
AD  - Department of Neurology and Stroke, Saitama Medical University International 
      Medical Center, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka-shi 350-1298, Japan.
AD  - Department of Physiology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, 
      Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan.
LA  - eng
GR  - 19K08002/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PT  - Review
DEP - 20220225
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Cells
JT  - Cells
JID - 101600052
RN  - IY9XDZ35W2 (Glucose)
RN  - S88TT14065 (Oxygen)
SB  - IM
MH  - *Astrocytes/metabolism
MH  - Cerebrovascular Circulation
MH  - Glucose/metabolism
MH  - *Neurons/physiology
MH  - Oxygen/metabolism
PMC - PMC8909328
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - astrocyte
OT  - astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle
OT  - astroglia
OT  - functional hyperemia
OT  - glucose
OT  - lactate
COIS- The author has no conflict of interests to declare.
EDAT- 2022/03/11 06:00
MHDA- 2022/04/12 06:00
PMCR- 2022/02/25
CRDT- 2022/03/10 15:34
PHST- 2021/12/18 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/02/17 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2022/02/24 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/03/10 15:34 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/03/11 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/04/12 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/02/25 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - cells11050813 [pii]
AID - cells-11-00813 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/cells11050813 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Cells. 2022 Feb 25;11(5):813. doi: 10.3390/cells11050813.