The Role of Glial Cells in the Neuro-Vascular Unit in Health and Disease
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuroglia".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2024 | Viewed by 1811
Special Issue Editors
Interests: blood–brain barrier; vitamin D; cadmium toxicity; cannabidiol; neuroprotection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: neuropathic pain; blood–brain barrier; cadmium toxicity; neuroprotection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are delighted to announce this Special Issue, titled “The Role of Glial Cells in the Neuro-vascular Unit in Health and Disease”, of Brain Sciences.
Nowadays, the pathologies affecting the central nervous system are deleterious constants mainly due to the longer life expectancy of modern humans.
Glial cells play a pivotal role within the central nervous system, even though for decades they came second to neurons as a research object. The term “glia” includes three main different types of cells: astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. While our primary understanding of glial cells encompassed a trophic and support role, over the years, our knowledge of other functions has increased dramatically, both contributing to knowledge on the physiological function of the central nervous system and many processes associated with brain pathologies, including acute or chronic damage. The plasticity of glia is widely known, which could be due to the interactive position of glial cells within the neuro-vascular unit between brain endothelial cells and neurons. This active interconnection is able to trigger detrimental events that can occur within the CNS but also ameliorate and prevent deleterious effects in order to restore the brain homeostasis. For these reasons, our understanding of the role of glial cells is still incomplete and fragmented; indeed, whether CNS damage is triggered by glial activation or brain impairments that induce glial activation is still unclear, thus complicating the pathology.
This Special Issue of Brain Sciences aims to collect the most significant advances in understanding NVU glial cells’ function and interplay within the central nervous system both during normal and pathological conditions. Original research articles and comprehensive reviews are welcome.
Dr. Jacopo Junio Valerio Branca
Prof. Dr. Alessandra Pacini
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- glial cells
- astrocytes
- microglia
- oligodendrocytes
- neuro-vascular unit
- central nervous system
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