Speaker：Lijun Qi (齐立君) Lai Wei (魏来) Xuetao Qi (齐雪涛) Junxiao Hou (候郡潇) Yuchun Wang (王雨纯)

Abstract:

Astrocytes, the most abundant glial cells in the mammalian brain, possess numerous fine cellular processes that infiltrate the neuropil and interact with synapses. Recently, more and more studies on functions of astrocytes shade light on their novel functions in shaping the nervous system. In addition to be merely a scaffold, astrocytes are critical regulators of brain development and physiology through dynamic and often bidirectional interactions with neuronal synapses. They can either provide important metabolic and trophic support to neurons, or induce synapse formation and plasticity by secreting instructive cues or ligand-receptor binding. Understanding how astrocytes play a role in synapse formation and brain function will provides us more hints on treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Rett’s syndrome, with common pathological feature as loss of astrocyte complexity.

Guest information:

1. Dr. Yang Jing (PKU)

http://mgv.pku.edu.cn/?co=posts&ac=faculty&catalog=enpiintro&pname=en_Jing_Yang

2. Yiqiong Liu (PKU, from Dr. Yan Zhang’s lab)

http://www.bio.pku.edu.cn/teacher_dis_oa.php?cid=208&&teaid=95 (Dr. Yan Zhang)

Recommend Literatures：

Review:

1. Allen, N. J., & Eroglu, C. (2017). Cell biology of astrocyte-synapse interactions. Neuron, 96(3), 697.

Link: https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)30925-X

Papers:

1. Singh, S. K., Stogsdill, J. A., Pulimood, N. S., Dingsdale, H., Kim, Y. H., & Pilaz, L. J., et al. (2016). Astrocytes assemble thalamocortical synapses by bridging nrx1α and nl1 via hevin. Cell, 164(1-2), 183-196.

Link: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(15)01553-6

2. Chung, W. S., Clarke, L. E., Wang, G. X., Stafford, B. K., Sher, A., & Chakraborty, C., et al. (2013). Astrocytes mediate synapse elimination through megf10 and mertk pathways. Nature, 504(7480), 394.

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12776