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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 16.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Immunol. 2020 Aug 13;41(9):805–819. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2020.07.007

Figure 2. Metabolic Control of Mouse and Human Astrocytes.

Figure 2.

Sphingolipid metabolism in astrocytes activates a novel signaling pathway involving cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS). Lactosylceramide (LacCer) produced by sphingolipid metabolism binds to and activates cPLA2, which then activates MAVS inducing nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)-driven proinflammatory transcriptional programs. MAVS activation also triggers metabolic remodeling that reduces lactate production and limits the metabolic support of neurons by astrocytes, boosting neurodegeneration [81]. B4GALT6, beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase 6; CCL2, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2; GM-CSF, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; NO, nitric oxide; TNF, tumor necrosis factor. This figure was created using BioRender (https://biorender.com/).