Development of a human reactive astrocyte platform for drug discovery

 Astrocytes are one of the key glial types of the central nervous system (CNS) and play a critical role in maintaining brain homeostasis. Following CNS injury or in disease, astrocytes undergo a transformation to become ‘reactive’ and change their morphology and molecular profile, adopting different phenotypic states to respond to pathological insults. Reactive astrocytes participate in neuroinflammatory processes occurring in neurodegenerative diseases through secretion of neuro- and immune-modulatory factors. Recently, an in vitro reactive astrocyte model was developed using a stimulation cocktail of TNF-α, IL-1α, and Complement 1q (‘TIC’), which drives a neurotoxic state.¹ TIC-induced astrocytes have been shown to secrete growth factors, chemokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines, as well as neurotoxic lipids.

Poster