The role of astrocytes response triggered by hyperglycaemia during spinal cord injury

Abstract

Objective: This manuscript aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the physiological, molecular, and cellular mechanisms triggered by reactive astrocytes (RA) in the context of spinal cord injury (SCI), with a particular focus on cases involving hyperglycaemia.

Methods: The compilation of articles related to astrocyte responses in neuropathological conditions, with a specific emphasis on those related to SCI and hyperglycaemia, was conducted by searching through databases including Science Direct, Web of Science, and PubMed.

Results and Conclusions: This article explores the dual role of astrocytes in both neurophysiological and neurodegenerative conditions within the central nervous system (CNS). In the aftermath of SCI and hyperglycaemia, astrocytes undergo a transformation into RA, adopting a distinct phenotype. While there are currently no approved therapies for SCI, various therapeutic strategies have been proposed to alleviate the detrimental effects of RAs following SCI and hyperglycemia. These strategies show promising potential in the treatment of SCI and its likely comorbidities.

Keywords:

• Reactive astrocytes
• spinal cord injury
• hyperglycaemia

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Dr. Carly McCarthy for the valuable comments and assistance in improving the manuscript’s English language.

Author contributions

CS contributed to the conception of principal ideas, CS and GM wrote the first draft of the manuscript, performed the graphic design and thoroughly proofread the last version. Both authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data availability statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article, since no data sets were generated or analysed during the current study. All the information was obtained from the public library, The National Library of Medicine (National Centre for Biotechnology Information, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

Additional information

Funding

CS was supported by the Departamento de Ciencias Naturales (DCN) de la División de Ciencias Naturales e Ingeniería (DCNI) de la UAM-Cuajimalpa, under grant and project #47301025. GM was supported by Universidad Austral, CONICET, and Fund for Scientific and Technological Research (FONCYT) Ministry of Science, Tech. and Productive Argentina, (PICT-2020-SERIEA-00928).