Research progress of astrocyte phagocytosis in Alzheimer′s disease

Abstract

Astrocytes are heavily activated in Alzheimer′s disease, engulfing damaged synapses, Aβ proteins, Tau proteins, apoptotic cells and other substrates. However, these substrates are difficult to degrade, accumulate as the disease progresses, and impair the phagocytosis of astrocytes. During phagocytosis, astrocytes recognize different substrates through a variety of phagocytosis receptors and partially degrade the substrates through degrading enzymes and lysosomal pathways. The accumulation of Aβ and Tau proteins in astrocytes caused astrocyte immune and metabolic disorders, and Aβ toxicity changed after phagocytosis. In addition, astrocytes and microglia form a complementary pattern and cooperate to complete phagocytosis through interaction. Regulating the pathway of astrocyte phagocytosis and degradation is believed to be a potential novo therapeutic for clinical treatment of Alzheimer′s disease.

Keywords

• astrocytes|phagocytosis|alzheimer′s disease