Astrocytes are responsible for modulating neurotransmitter systems and synaptic information processing, ionic homeostasis, energy metabolism, maintenance of the blood-brain barrier, and antioxidant and inflammatory responses. Our group recently published a culture model of cortical astrocytes obtained from adult Wistar rats. In this study, we established an in vitro model for hippocampal astrocyte cultures from adult (90 days old) and aged (180 days old) Wistar rats. Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in grapes and red wine, exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and neuroprotective effects that modulate glial functions. Here, we evaluated the effects of resveratrol on GSH content, GS activity, TNF-α and IL-1β levels in hippocampal astrocytes from newborn, adult and aged Wistar rats. We observed a decrease in antioxidant defenses and an increase in the inflammatory response in hippocampal astrocytes from adult and aged rats compared to classical astrocyte cultures from newborn rats. Resveratrol prevented these effects. These findings reinforce the neuroprotective effects of resveratrol, which are mainly associated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

Astrocytes, a major class of glial cells, regulate neurotransmitter systems, synaptic processing, ion homeostasis, antioxidant defenses and energy metabolism. Astrocyte cultures derived from rodent brains have been extensively used to characterize astrocytes' biochemical, pharmacological and morphological properties. The aims of this study were to develop a protocol for routine preparation and to characterize a primary astrocyte culture from the brains of adult (90 days old) Wistar rats. For this we used enzymatic digestion (trypsin and papain) and mechanical dissociation. Medium exchange occurred from 24 h after obtaining a culture and after, twice a week up to reach the confluence (around the 4th to 5th week). Under basal conditions, adult astrocytes presented a polygonal to fusiform and flat morphology. Furthermore, approximately 95% the cells were positive for the main glial markers, including GFAP, glutamate transporters, glutamine synthetase and S100B. Moreover, the astrocytes were able to take up glucose and glutamate. Adult astrocytes were also able to respond to acute H2O2 exposure, which led to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and a decrease in glutamate uptake. The antioxidant compound resveratrol was able to protect adult astrocytes from oxidative damage. A response of adult astrocytes to an inflammatory stimulus with LPS was also observed. Changes in the actin cytoskeleton were induced in stimulated astrocytes, most likely by a mechanism dependent on MAPK and Rho A signaling pathways. Taken together, these findings indicate that the culture model described in this study exhibits the biochemical and physiological properties of astrocytes and may be useful for elucidating the mechanisms related to the adult brain, exploring changes between neonatal and adult astrocytes, as well as investigating compounds involved in cytotoxicity and cytoprotection.

ImportanceThe recent proliferation of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) biomarkers has raised questions about their preferential association with the hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer disease (AD): amyloid-β plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles.ObjectiveTo determine whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma p-tau biomarkers preferentially reflect cerebral β-amyloidosis or neurofibrillary tangle aggregation measured with positron emission tomography (PET).Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis was a cross-sectional study of 2 observational cohorts: the Translational Biomarkers in Aging and Dementia (TRIAD) study, with data collected between October 2017 and August 2021, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), with data collected between September 2015 and November 2019. TRIAD was a single-center study, and ADNI was a multicenter study. Two independent subsamples were derived from TRIAD. The first TRIAD subsample comprised individuals assessed with CSF p-tau (p-tau181, p-tau217, p-tau231, p-tau235), [18F]AZD4694 amyloid PET, and [18F]MK6240 tau PET. The second TRIAD subsample included individuals assessed with plasma p-tau (p-tau181, p-tau217, p-tau231), [18F]AZD4694 amyloid PET, and [18F]MK6240 tau PET. An independent cohort from ADNI comprised individuals assessed with CSF p-tau181, [18F]florbetapir PET, and [18F]flortaucipir PET. Participants were included based on the availability of p-tau and PET biomarker assessments collected within 9 months of each other. Exclusion criteria were a history of head trauma or magnetic resonance imaging/PET safety contraindications. No participants who met eligibility criteria were excluded.ExposuresAmyloid PET, tau PET, and CSF and plasma assessments of p-tau measured with single molecule array (Simoa) assay or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Main Outcomes and MeasuresAssociations between p-tau biomarkers with amyloid PET and tau PET.ResultsA total of 609 participants (mean [SD] age, 66.9 [13.6] years; 347 female [57%]; 262 male [43%]) were included in the study. For all 4 phosphorylation sites assessed in CSF, p-tau was significantly more closely associated with amyloid-PET values than tau-PET values (p-tau181 difference, 13%; 95% CI, 3%-22%; P = .006; p-tau217 difference, 11%; 95% CI, 3%-20%; P = .003; p-tau231 difference, 15%; 95% CI, 5%-22%; P < .001; p-tau235 difference, 9%; 95% CI, 1%-19%; P = .02) . These results were replicated with plasma p-tau181 (difference, 11%; 95% CI, 1%-22%; P = .02), p-tau217 (difference, 9%; 95% CI, 1%-19%; P = .02), p-tau231 (difference, 13%; 95% CI, 3%-24%; P = .009), and CSF p-tau181 (difference, 9%; 95% CI, 1%-21%; P = .02) in independent cohorts.Conclusions and RelevanceResults of this cross-sectional study of 2 observational cohorts suggest that the p-tau abnormality as an early event in AD pathogenesis was associated with amyloid-β accumulation and highlights the need for careful interpretation of p-tau biomarkers in the context of the amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration, or A/T/(N), framework.

Guanosine, a guanine-based purine, is an extracellular signaling molecule that is released from astrocytes and shows neuroprotective effects in several in vivo and in vitro studies. Our group recently showed that guanosine presents antioxidant properties in C6 astroglial cells. The heme oxygenase 1 signaling pathway is associated with protection against oxidative stress. Azide, an inhibitor of the respiratory chain, is frequently used in experimental models to induce oxidative and nitrosative stress. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the effect of guanosine on azide-induced oxidative damage in C6 astroglial cells. Azide treatment of these cells resulted in several detrimental effects, including induction of cytotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction, increased levels of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and NADPH oxidase, decreased glutamate uptake and EAAC1 glutamate transporter expression, decreased glutathione (GSH) levels, and decreased activities of glutamine synthetase (GS), superoxide dismutase and catalase (CAT). The treatment also increased nuclear factor-jB activation and the release of proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor a and IL-1b. Guanosine strongly prevented these effects, protecting glial cells against azide-induced cytotoxicity and modulating glial, oxidative and inflammatory responses through the activation of the heme oxygenase 1 pathway. These observations reinforce and support the role of guanosine as an antioxidant molecule against oxidative damage.

Astrocytes are dynamic cells that maintain brain homeostasis, regulate neurotransmitter systems, and process synaptic information, energy metabolism, antioxidant defenses, and inflammatory response. Aging is a biological process that is closely associated with hippocampal astrocyte dysfunction. In this sense, we demonstrated that hippocampal astrocytes from adult and aged Wistar rats reproduce the glial functionality alterations observed in aging by evaluating several senescence, glutamatergic, oxidative and inflammatory parameters commonly associated with the aging process. Here, we show that the p21 senescence-associated gene and classical astrocyte markers, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, and actin, changed their expressions in adult and aged astrocytes. Age-dependent changes were also observed in glutamate transporters (glutamate aspartate transporter (GLAST) and glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1)) and glutamine synthetase immunolabeling and activity. Additionally, according to in vivo aging, astrocytes from adult and aged rats showed an increase in oxidative/nitrosative stress with mitochondrial dysfunction, an increase in RNA oxidation, NADPH oxidase (NOX) activity, superoxide levels, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression levels. Changes in antioxidant defenses were also observed. Hippocampal astrocytes also displayed age-dependent inflammatory response with augmentation of proinflammatory cytokine levels, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2). Furthermore, these cells secrete neurotrophic factors, including glia-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B) protein, and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), which changed in an age-dependent manner. Classical signaling pathways associated with aging, such as nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 (Nrf2), nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), were also changed in adult and aged astrocytes and are probably related to the changes observed in senescence marker, glutamatergic metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative/nitrosative stress, antioxidant defenses, inflammatory response, and trophic factors release. Together, our results reinforce the role of hippocampal astrocytes as a target for understanding the mechanisms involved in aging and provide an innovative tool for studies of astrocyte roles in physiological and pathological aging brain.

Guanosine, a guanine-based purine, is an extracellular signaling molecule that is released from astrocytes and has been shown to promote central nervous system defenses in several in vivo and in vitro injury models. Our group recently demonstrated that guanosine exhibits glioprotective effects in the C6 astroglial cell line by associating the heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling pathway with protection against azideinduced oxidative stress. Astrocyte overactivation contributes to the triggering of brain inflammation, a condition that is closely related to the development of many neurological disorders. These cells sense and amplify inflammatory signals from microglia and/or initiate the release of inflammatory mediators that are strictly related to transcriptional factors, such as nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), that are modulated by HO-1. Astrocytes also express toll-like receptors (TLRs); TLRs specifically recognize lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which has been widely used to experimentally study inflammatory response. This study was designed to understand the glioprotective mechanism of guanosine against the inflammatory and oxidative damage induced by LPS exposure in primary cultures of hippocampal astrocytes. Treatment of astrocytes with LPS resulted in deleterious effects, including the augmentation of pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, NFκB activation, mitochondrial dysfunction, increased levels of oxygen/nitrogen species, and decreased levels of antioxidative defenses. Guanosine was able to prevent these effects, protecting the hippocampal astrocytes against LPS-induced cytotoxicity through activation of the HO-1 pathway. Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of guanosine were independent of the adenosinergic system. These results highl i g h t t h e p o t e n t i a l r o l e o f g u a n o s i n e a g a i n s t neuroinflammatory-related diseases.

Severe systemic inflammation has strong effects on brain functions, promoting permanent neurocognitive dysfunction and high mortality rates. Additionally, hippocampal damage seems to be directly involved in this process and astrocytes play an important role in neuroinflammation and in the neuroimmune response. However, the contribution of the astrocytes to the pathology of acute brain dysfunction is not well understood. Recently, our group established a protocol for obtaining astrocyte cultures from mature brain to allow the characterization of these cells and their functions under pathologic conditions. The present study was designed to characterize astrocyte function after acute systemic inflammation induced by cecal ligation and perforation (CLP). Hippocampal astrocyte cultures from CLP animals presented increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-18, and cyclooxygenase-2 and decreased levels of IL-10. This proinflammatory profile was accompanied by an increase in Toll-like receptor (TLR)2 mRNA expression levels and no change either in TLR4 or in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression. These alterations were associated with increased expressions of p21, nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in astrocytes from CLP animals. The same parameters were also evaluated in whole hippocampal tissue, but differences in this profile were found compared to hippocampal astrocyte cultures from CLP, reflecting an interaction between other central nervous system cell types, which may mask specific astrocytic changes. These results improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which astrocytes react against systemic inflammation, and suggest these cells to be potential targets for therapeutic modulation.

Guanosine, a guanine-based purine, is recognized as an extracellular signaling molecule that is released from astrocytes and confers neuroprotective effects in several in vivo and in vitro studies. Astrocytes regulate glucose metabolism, glutamate transport, and defense mechanism against oxidative stress. C6 astroglial cells are widely used as an astrocyte-like cell line to study the astrocytic function and signaling pathways. Our previous studies showed that guanosine modulates the glutamate uptake activity, thus avoiding glutamatergic excitotoxicity and protecting neural cells. The goal of this study was to determine the gliopreventive effects of guanosine against glucose deprivation in vitro in cultured C6 cells. Glucose deprivation induced cytotoxicity, an increase in reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) levels and lipid peroxidation as well as affected the metabolism of glutamate, which may impair important astrocytic functions. Guanosine prevented glucose deprivation-induced toxicity in C6 cells by modulating oxidative and nitrosative stress and glial responses, such as the glutamate uptake, the glutamine synthetase activity, and the glutathione levels. Glucose deprivation decreased the level of EAAC1, the main glutamate transporter present in C6 cells. Guanosine also prevented this effect, most likely through PKC, PI3K, p38 MAPK, and ERK signaling pathways. Taken together, these results show that guanosine may represent an important mechanism for protection of glial cells against glucose deprivation. Additionally, this study contributes to a more thorough understanding of the glial-and redox-related protective properties of guanosine in astroglial cells.