Table 4.
Summary of the astrocyte-affected diseases.
| Astrocyte affected disease | Astrocyte associated defects or gene defects | Astrocytes mediated pathological or neurological features | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hepatic encephalopathy | Astrocyte swelling and neurotransmitter receptor alternation | Cytotoxic brain oedema | Felipo and Butterworth, 2002; Butterworth, 2010; Chen et al., 2012; Takayama, 2015 |
| Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) | Auto-antibody; loss of aquaporin 4+ and GFAP+ astrocytes | Inflammation, demyelination, astrocyte loss and nerve injury | Lennon et al., 2004; Wingerchuk et al., 2007; Marignier et al., 2010; Tradtrantip et al., 2012 |
| Balo’s disease | Loss of aquaporin4+ and CX43 | Demyelination and astrocyte hypertrophy | Tokumoto et al., 2010; Czepiel et al., 2011; Pouya et al., 2011; Linnoila and Chitnis, 2014 |
| Wernicke’s encephalopathy | Loss of EAAT1 (GALST) and EAAT2 (GLT-1); decreased level of aquaporin 4 | Loss of neurons, oedema, gliosis | Sechi and Serra, 2007; Lough, 2012 |
| Alexander disease (AxD) | Mutation in GFAP protein | Accumulations of eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions, known as RF | Prust et al., 2011; Wang L. et al., 2011; Molofsk et al., 2012; Lanciotti et al., 2013 |
| Alzheimer disease (AD) | Synaptic loss and neuronal death | Deposition of extracellular SPs and neurofibrillary tangles | Wyss-Coray et al., 2003; Koistinaho et al., 2004; Castellano et al., 2011; Li et al., 2011; Sidoryk-Wegrzynowicz et al., 2011; Israel et al., 2012; Kondo et al., 2013 |
| Vanishing white matter (VWM) | Autosomal recessive neurological disease, Mutation in eIF2B, eIF2B is a guanine nucleotide-exchange factor for eIF2 | Gray matter remains normal, whereas white matter changes texture. Abnormally shaped astrocytes with febrile infections | La Piana et al., 2012; Elroy-Stein and Schiffmann, 2014 |
| Megalencephalic leukodystrophy | Is an early-onset macrocephaly, Degeneration of motor functions | Intramyelinic vacuole formation, alterations of the blood–brain barrier structure and astroglial activation | Anand et al., 2007; Brignone et al., 2014 |
Aldh1L1, aldehyde dehydrogenase 1.