Astrocytes in Parkinson's disease and DJ-1.

摘要

Since the German anatomist Rudolf Virchow first coined the term neuroglia in 1846, our ideas about glial cells have moved from viewing them simply as the glue that holds neurons in place. We now know that glia are intimately involved in the lives of neurons, with functions ranging from nurturing developing synapses to actually facilitating the transmission of neuronal information (Eroglu and Barres 2010). Furthermore, glial cells may play detrimental roles in the pathogenesis of nervous system diseases. As an example of this, work from Hinkle and colleagues in this issue of the Journal of Neurochemistiy highlight a potential role of astrocytes in Parkinson's disease associated with mutations in DJ-1 (Mullett and Hinkle 2011).