RT Journal Article
T1 Astrocytes acquire morphological and functional characteristics of ependymal cells following disruption of ependyma in hydrocephalus
A1 Roales-Buján, Ruth
A1 Páez-González, Patricia
A1 Guerra, Montserrat
A1 Rodriguez, Sara
A1 Vío, Karin
A1 Ho-Plágaro, Ailec
A1 García-Bonilla, María
A1 Rodríguez-Pérez, Luis Manuel
A1 Domínguez-Pinos, Dolores
A1 Martín Rodriguez, Esteban
A1 Pérez-Figárez, José Manuel
A1 Jiménez-Lara, Antonio Jesús
K1 Hidrocefalia
AB Hydrocephalic hyh mutant mice undergo a programmed loss of the neuroepithelium/ependyma followed by a reaction of periventricular astrocytes, which form a new cell layer covering the denuded ventricular surface. We present a comparative morphological and functional study of the newly formed layer of astrocytes and the multiciliated ependyma of hyh mice. Transmission electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry for junction proteins (N-cadherin, connexin 43) and proteins involved in permeability (aquaporin 4) and endocytosis (caveolin-1, EEA1) were used. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and lanthanum nitrate were used to trace the intracellular and paracellular transport routes. The astrocyte layer shares several cytological features with the normal multiciliated ependyma, such as numerous microvilli projected into the ventricle, extensive cell-cell interdigitations and connexin 43-based gap junctions, suggesting that these astrocytes are coupled to play an unknown function as a cell layer. The ependyma and the astrocyte layers also share transport properties: (1) high expression of aquaporin 4, caveolin-1 and the endosome marker EEA1; (2) internalization into endocytic vesicles and early endosomes of HRP injected into the ventricle; (3) and a similar paracellular route of molecules moving between CSF, the subependymal neuropile and the pericapillary space, as shown by lanthanum nitrate and HRP. A parallel analysis performed in human hydrocephalic foetuses indicated that a similar phenomenon would occur in humans. We suggest that in foetal-onset hydrocephalus, the astrocyte assembly at the denuded ventricular walls functions as a CSF-brain barrier involved in water and solute transport, thus contributing to re-establish lost functions at the brain parenchyma-CSF interphase.
PB Springer Nature Limited
YR 2012
FD 2012-05-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/40188
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/40188
LA eng
NO Roales-Buján R, Páez P, Guerra M, Rodríguez S, Vío K, Ho-Plagaro A, García-Bonilla M, Rodríguez-Pérez LM, Domínguez-Pinos MD, Rodríguez EM, Pérez-Fígares JM, Jiménez AJ. Astrocytes acquire morphological and functional characteristics of ependymal cells following disruption of ependyma in hydrocephalus. Acta Neuropathol. 2012 Oct;124(4):531-46. doi: 10.1007/s00401-012-0992-6. Epub 2012 May 11. PMID: 22576081; PMCID: PMC3444707.
NO Instituto Salud Carlos III
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia
NO Fondecyt (Chile)
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 21 ene 2026