Main description:

A distinguished panel of internationally recognized neuroscientists comprehensively review the involvement of and changes in glial cells both during the normal aging process and in the major disorders of old age. Topics range from the cellular and molecular changes that occur with aging-especially aging-associated activation of astrocytes and microglia and its relation to neuronal injury and repair-to neuron-glia intercommunication. The contributors show how glial signals may be modulated by hormones, growth factors, neurotransmitters, intracellular metabolism, and intercellular exchanges, as well as by aging of the blood-brain barrier.

Contents:

Part I. Cellular and Molecular Changes of Aged and Reactive Astrocytes

Neuromorphological Changes in Neuronal and Neuroglial Populations of the Cerebral Cortex in the Aging Rat: Neurochemical Correlations
Maria Angeles Peinado, Manuel Martinez, Maria Jesus Ramirez, Adoracion Quesada, Juan Angel Pedrosa, Concepcion Iribar, and Jose Maria Peinado

Diversity in Reactive Astrocytes
Sudarshan K. Malhotra and Theodor K. Shnitka

Astrocytic Reaction After Traumatic Brain Injury
Jesus Boya, J. L. Calvo, Angel Lopez-Carbonell, and Jose E. Garcia-Maurino

Part II. Neuron-Glia Intercommunication

Astrocytes In Situ Exhibit Functional Neurotransmitter Receptors
Marilee K. Shelton and Ken D. McCarthy

Glia and Extracellular Space Diffusion Parameters in the Injured and Aging Brain
Eva Sykova

Intercellular Diffusional Coupling between Glial Cells in Slices from the Striatum
Brigitte Hamon, Jacques Glowinski, and Christian Giaume

Glial Cell Involvement in Brain Repair and the Effects of Aging
Elizabeth A. Howes and Peter J. S. Smith

ATP Signaling in Schwann Cells
Thierry Amedee, Aurore Colomar, and Jonathan A. Coles

Part III. Neurotrophins, Growth Factors, and Neurohormones in Aging and Regeneration

Gliosis Growth Factors in the Adult and Aging Rat Brain
Gerard Labourdette and Francoise Eclancher

Role of Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 in Astrogliosis
John F. Reilly

Trophins as Mediators of Astrocyte Effects in the Aging and Regenerating Brain
Judith Lackland and Cheryl F. Dreyfus

Responses in the Basal Forebrain Cholinergic System to Aging
Zezong Gu and J. Regino Perez-Polo

Effects of Estrogens and Thyroid Hormone on Development and Aging of Astrocytes and Oligodendrocytes
Kevin Higashigawa, Alisa Seo, Nayan Sheth, Giorgios Tsianos, Hogan Shy, LathaMalaiyandi, and Paola S. Timiras

Part IV. Metabolic Changes

Neurotoxic Injury and Astrocytes
Michael Aschner and Richard M. LoPachin

Ammonium Ion Transport in Astrocytes: Functional Implications
Neville Brookes

Part V. Astrocytes and the Blood-Brain Barrier in Aging

Molecular Anatomy of the Blood-Brain Barrier in Development and Aging
Dorothee Krause, Pedro M. Faustmann, and Rolf Dermietzel

The Blood-Brain Barrier in the Aging Brain
Gesa Rascher and Hartwig Wolburg

Astrocytes and Barrier-provided Microvasculature in the Developing Brain
Luisa Roncali

Part VI. Astrocytes in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Microglial and Astrocytic Reactions in Alzheimer's Disease
Douglas G. Walker and Thomas G. Beach

Activated Neuroglia in Alzheimer's Disease
Kurt R. Brunden and Robert C. A. Frederickson

Reactive Astroglia in the Ataxic Form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: Cytology and Organization in the Cerebellar Cortex
Miguel Lafarga, Nuria T. Villagra, and Maria T. Berciano

Ischemic Injury, Astrocytes, and the Aging Brain
Robert Fern

Glial-Neuronal Interactions during Oxidative Stress: Implications for Parkinson's Disease
Catherine Mytilineou

Astrocytic Changes Associated with Epileptic Seizures
Angelique Bordey and Harald Sontheimer

Synaptic and Neuroglial Pathobiology in Acute and Chronic Neurological Disorders
Lee J. Martin

Astrocytes and Ammonia in Hepatic Encephalopathy
Michael D. Norenberg