“…Currently, multiple investigations have revealed the multi-faceted role of astrocytes in cerebral parenchymal homeostasis, which depends on intercellular communication (Dallérac et al, 2013). It has been widely reported that astrocytic cells play protective roles in the nervous system, characterized by the ion buffering (Walz, 2000; D’Ambrosio et al, 2002), the uptake and synthesis of neurotransmitters (Danbolt, 2001; Kaczor et al, 2015), controlling cerebral blood flow (Abbott et al, 2006; Newman, 2015), transport of water (Zeng et al, 2007; Kitchen et al, 2015), release of antioxidant substances (Pentreath and Slamon, 2000), and immunomodulation (Dong and Benveniste, 2001). Also, it has recently been described that astrocytes are involved in adult neurogenesis (Mori et al, 2005; Buffo et al, 2008; Duan et al, 2015; Nato et al, 2015), making the astrocyte a highly complex cell ( Figure 1A ).…”