Books in the Colloquium Series on Neuroglia in Biology and Medicine: From Physiology to Disease series

Reviews the cellular mechanisms contributing to astrocyte-mediated vasodilation and vasoconstriction of parenchymal arterioles. Primarily, the authors discuss how activity-dependent changes in astrocytic Ca2+ contribute to the release of vasoactive signals involved in neurovascular coupling.

Presents a discussion of the immune functions of neuroglia and their interactions with common infectious diseases in the brain. Discussion focuses on the most clinically relevant and well-studied infectious diseases, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), among others, in their interactions with microglia and astrocytes.

Summarises current evidence of astrocyte dysfunction in epilepsy and discusses presumed underlying mechanisms. Although research on astrocytes in epilepsy is still in its infancy, this book clearly demonstrates a critical role of astrocytes in the disturbance of K+ and transmitter homeostasis and its impact on seizure generation.

Classically, the central nervous system (CNS) was considered to contain neurons and three main types of glial cells-astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. Now, it has been clearly established that NG2-glia are a fourth glial cell type that are identified and defined by their expression of the NG2 chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (Cspg4).