The glial water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) is implicated in the control of ion and osmohomeostasis in the sensory retina. Using retinal slices from AQP4-deficient and wild-type mice, we investigated whether AQP4 is involved in the regulation of glial cell volume under altered osmotic conditions.
Immune cells cross the inflamed blood–brain barrier. But it’s unclear how brain inflammation begins before immune-cell entry. Studies of a model of multiple sclerosis start to solve this ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum
Astrocytes are specialized glial cells that outnumber neurons by over fivefold. They contiguously tile the entire central nervous system (CNS) and exert many essential complex functions in the healthy CNS
Background: Chitinases are a family of hydrolases characterized by the ability to cleave the environmental polysaccharide chitin. Although mammals do not synthesize chitin, they do synthesize chitinases, and chitinase-like proteins (CLPs)
Background Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are severe central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating disorders (CNS IDD) characterized by monophasic or relapsing, longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) and/or optic neuritis (ON). A significant proportion of NMOSD patients are seropositive for aquaporin-4 (AQP4) autoantibodies