The Significance of Senescent Astrocytes in the Aging Brain

The best way to establish significance of a given form of damage or dysfunction in aging is to repair it and then observe the results of that repair. This form of investigation is now well underway for the accumulation of senescent cells in aging, as the research community has established numerous means of selectively destroying senescent cells in animals. These range from genetically engineered INK-ATTAC mice to senolytic small molecule drugs to programmable suicide gene therapies, and more are being added with each passing year. Recent demonstrations in mice (using navitoclax, dasatinib and quercetin, and piperlongumine as senolytic agents) have made it quite clear that senescent cells in the brain contribute to the progression of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, as removing those cells greatly improves matters. Today's open access review paper looks at senescence in just one of the many populations of cells in the brain, the astrocytes. Previous work has examined glial cells in general in the context of cellular senescence and its detrimental effects on the brain, a category that includes astrocytes but also a range of other cell types. Astrocytes are support cells, and undertake a wide range of tasks to help ensure that neurons thrive and function correctly. It is not a loss of cells capable of carrying out these tasks that causes harm as a result of a small fraction of astrocytes becoming senescent. Rather it is that senescent cells produc...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs