Increase of aquaporin 9 expression in astrocytes participates in astrogliosis.
J Neuro Res. 2017-04-17; 96(2): 194-206
DOI: 10.1002/jnr.24061
Lire sur PubMed
Here we assess the potential functional role of increased aquaporin 9 (APQ9) in
astrocytes. Increased AQP9 expression was achieved in primary astrocyte cultures
by transfection of a plasmid-containing green fluorescent protein fused to either
wild-type or mutated human AQP9. Increased AQP9 expression and phosphorylation at
Ser222 were associated with a significant change in astrocyte morphology, mainly
with a higher number of processes. Similar phenotypic changes are observed in
astrogliosis processes after injury. In parallel, we observed that in vivo,
thrombin preconditioning before ischemic stroke induced an early increase in AQP9
expression in the male mouse brain. This increased AQP9 expression was also
associated with astrocyte morphological changes, especially in the white matter
tract. Astrocyte reactivity is debated as being either beneficial or deleterious.
As thrombin preconditioning leads to a decrease in lesion size after stroke, our
data suggest that the early increase in AQP9 concomitant with astrocyte
reactivity leads to a beneficial effect. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.