Astroglial interlaminar processes in human cerebral cortex: variations in cytoskeletal profiles

Of Men and Mice: Modeling the Fragile X Syndrome

The Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is one of the most common forms of inherited intellectual disability in all human societies. Caused by the transcriptional silencing of a single gene, the fragile x mental retardation gene FMR1, FXS is characterized by a variety of symptoms, which range from mental disabilities to autism and epilepsy. More than 20 years ago, a first animal model was described, the Fmr1 knock-out mouse. Several other models have been developed since then, including conditional knock-out mice, knock-out rats, a zebrafish and a drosophila model. Using these model systems, various targets for potential pharmaceutical treatments have been identified and many treatments have been shown to be efficient in preclinical studies. However, all attempts to turn these findings into a therapy for patients have failed thus far. In this review, I will discuss underlying difficulties and address potential alternatives for our future research.

Phenotypic heterogeneity and plasticity of isocortical and hippocampal astrocytes in the human brain

To examine the diversity of astrocytes in the human brain, we immunostained surgical specimens of temporal cortex and hippocampus and autopsy brains for CD44, a plasma membrane protein and extracellular matrix receptor. CD44 antibodies outline the details of astrocyte morphology to a degree not possible with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) antibodies. CD44+ astrocytes could be subdivided into two groups. First, CD44+ astrocytes with long processes were consistently found in the subpial area ("interlaminar" astrocytes), the deep isocortical layers, and the hippocampus. Many of these processes ended on blood vessels. Some were also found adjacent to large blood vessels, from which they extended long processes. We observed these CD44+, long-process astrocytes in every brain we examined, from fetal to adult. These astrocytes generally displayed high immunostaining for GFAP, S100β, and CD44, but low immunostaining for glutamine synthetase, excitatory amino-acid transporter 1 (EAAT1), and EAAT2. Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) appeared distributed all over the cell bodies and processes of the CD44+ astrocytes, while, in contrast, AQP4 localized to perivascular end feet in the CD44- protoplasmic astrocytes. Second, there were CD44+ astrocytes without long processes in the cortex. These were not present during gestation or at birth, and in adult brains varied substantially in number, shape, and immunohistochemical phenotype. Many of these displayed a "mixed" morphological and immunocytochemical phenotype between protoplasmic and fibrous astrocytes. We conclude that the diversity of astrocyte populations in the isocortex and archicortex in the human brain reflects both intrinsic and acquired phenotypes, the latter perhaps representing a shift from CD44- "protoplasmic" to CD44+ "fibrous"-like astrocytes.

Cerebral cortex astroglia and the brain of a genius: a propos of A. Einstein's

The glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactive astroglial layout of the cerebral cortex from Albert Einstein and other four age-matched human cases lacking any known neurological disease was analyzed using quantification of geometrical features mathematically defined. Several parameters (parallelism, relative depth, tortuosity) describing the primate-specific interlaminar glial processes did not show individually distinctive characteristics in any of the samples analyzed. However, A. Einstein's astrocytic processes showed larger sizes and higher numbers of interlaminar terminal masses, reaching sizes of 15 microm in diameter. These bulbous endings are of unknown significance and they have been described occurring in Alzheimer's disease. These observations are placed in the context of the general discussion regarding the proposal--by other authors--that structural, postmortem characteristics of the aged brain of Albert Einstein may serve as markers of his cognitive performance, a proposal to which the authors of this paper do not subscribe, and argue against.

Development of interlaminar astroglial processes in the cerebral cortex of control and Down's syndrome human cases

Glial cytoarchitecture in human cerebral cortex is constituted by two overlapping layouts: the (general mammalian) "glial syncytium" and the (primate-specific) "interlaminar glial palisade" (IGP) composed by astroglial cells, with long, radial processes that traverse several supragranular layers. In this study, the emergence and early organization of the IGP was analyzed using immunocytochemical procedures in postmortem infantile human control and age matched, Down's syndrome (DS) cases. In control cases, first signs of a radial array of unbranched astroglial processes were apparent at the end of the period of "physiological astrocytosis" (20-40 days of postnatal life), and its general profile (except perhaps the density of cell processes) reached the adult-like configuration by the second month of life. The initial organization of the IGP was similar in control and DS cases, although a breakdown in DS became manifest by the first year of age, or earlier, albeit with individual variations. These changes tended to evolve in a "mosaic" fashion and included partial disruption of the palisade, or persistence of the "physiological astrocytosis". These observations were compared against samples from elder DS cases with an Alzheimer's type of dementia (AtD). Collectively, results suggest that DS also involves astroglial alterations during early stages of brain development, and that those changes progress with age, until an AtD ensues during adult life.

Glial changes in primate cerebral cortex following long-term sensory deprivation

Significant morphological modifications in the layout of primate-specific (interlaminar) astroglia were found in somatosensory areas 3a, 3b, 1 and 2 eleven to thirteen months after transection of the posterior spinal cord in adult Macaca monkeys. These observations plus lack of evidence of a persistent reactive astrocytosis suggest that changes in the spatial arrangement of interlaminar glia may be an integral part of the long-term process of structural reorganization of the cerebral cortex following cortical deafferentation.

Interlaminar astroglia of the cerebral cortex: a marker of the primate brain

Evidence for "cable-like" processes stemming from astroglial cells in the supragranular cerebral cortex has been recently presented. In addition to what could be called the "general mammalian-like" astroglial architecture (the so-called "panglial syncytium") of the cerebral cortex, composed of typical stellate astrocytes (intralaminar astrocytes), the anthropoid species, mostly catarrhines, show a manifest vertical, radial distribution of long (interlaminar) astroglial processes. It can be tentatively proposed that evolutionary pressures resulted in the progressive appearance, in primates, of a new type of glial cell. Its soma has a superficial location and unusually long cellular processes that invade, in a predominant radial fashion, the supragranular region of the cerebral cortex. Their existence has been ignored for more than a century. On the neuronal side, modular (columnar) organization of the cerebral cortex may represent an evolutionary acquisition that could optimize communication and information processing, with the least volume compromise in terms of wiring. Yet, for such columns to be functionally operative, adequate isolation from neighboring units would be required. A "mass" operation of the astroglial architecture would tend to compromise spatial definition and the degrees of freedom of such columnar modules. It is proposed that the presence of a "palisade" of interlaminar glial processes represents a relatively recent evolutionary event, instrumental for the optimization of the modular (columnar) organization of the cerebral cortex. It is interesting that the supragranular cortical region has undergone the largest growth among mammalian species during brain evolution, and has been associated with a crucial role in cortico-cortical interactions.