917-Glial Circuit Governs Balanced Brain Injury Responses
The research investigates how the brain maintains a delicate balance when responding to acute injuries, preventing excessive damage while facilitating recovery. Scientists discovered a reciprocal glial circuit involving astrocytes and microglia that uses extracellular ATP to signal the severity of an injury. In this loop, microglia sense ATP levels and release the cytokine IL-1β as a negative feedback signal to regulate further astrocytic output. This inhibitory communication is processed through the Ca²⁺-calcineurin pathway within astrocytes, which acts as a molecular integrator to scale the…
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