Astrocytes: Wiring the Brain

Astrocytes play diverse roles in central nervous system (CNS) function and dysfunction, and the connections that the astrocyte makes with other cells of the brain are essential for a variety of important neural tasks. This volume emphasizes cellular connections and surveys the most current findings on astrocyte activity. The book identifies major astrocyte biomarkers and describes how they define the different connectivity domains. It examines the role of these connections and explains how their function can be manipulated and how dysfunction of the connectivity leads to aberrant brain performance. The final section explores the alterations of glia that have been observed in specific diseases of the brain.

Author: Eliana Scemes
Publisher: CRC Press
Published: 11/14/2018
Pages: 436
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.34lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.89d
ISBN: 9781138374300

About the Author

Eliana Scemes obtained her PhD from the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil, and joined the faculty of the Institute of Biosciences at USP, where her research was primarily on nervous systems of jellyfish and the marine mollusk Aplysia. She spent two sabbatical years at Einstein and joined the faculty at Einstein College of Medicine in 1997, becoming Professor in 2010. Her current research interest is in the role of connexin and pannexin channels in astrocytes and brain pathophysiology.

David C. Spray

obtained his PhD from the University of Florida College of Medicine and after a postdoctorate, joined the faculty at Einstein College of Medicine, where he became Professor of Neuroscience in 1986 and Medicine (Cardiology) in 1993. His major research interest is in gap junctions, primarily in physiological studies of their modulations and functions in the nervous system and elsewhere, and also in studies of regulation of gap junction and other genes in various pathological conditions, including parasitic infections causing Chagas disease and cerebral malaria.