ТУЧНЫЕ КЛЕТКИ В ГОЛОВНОМ МОЗГЕ ПОЗВОНОЧНЫХ – ЛОКАЛИЗАЦИЯ И ФУНКЦИИ

Abstract

This review focuses on mast cells as resident cells in the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Mast cell distribution in the brain of different vertebrate species is surveyed in detail. In mammals, they are located most often in the choroid plexus, meninges, thalamus, medial nucleus of habenula, hypothalamus and circumventricular organs, usually in the immediate vicinity of blood vessels and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-containing spaces. Their number in brain is unstable, changing during postnatal ontogeny and under the influence of hormonal and immune factors. There are different ways of mediator release from cytoplasmic granules of mast cells, which provide targeted or diffuse effects on surrounding cells. Mast cells express a large number of receptors for immunoglobulins, neurotransmitters and hormones, which makes them highly sensitive to changes in external and internal environments of the body. At the same time, numerous mediators contained in mast cells allow them to induce inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, immuno-, vasculo-, gliocyto- and/or neuromodulating effects, the intensity and direction of which relies on the composition and amount of excreted mediators and the ways of their release, which, in turn, depends on which receptors on mast cells are activated. Mast cells control the permeability of the blood-brain and blood-CSF barriers, contribute to angiogenesis and, along with glial cells, regulate neuroinflammation (which is a leading pathogenetic factor of some nervous system and mental diseases) and protect the CNS from other pathogenic factors. Mast cells in the brain play the role of neuroimmune centers with afferent and efferent functions that link peripheral organs to specialized CNS cells and are actively involved in maintaining CNS homeostasis under both physiological conditions and the influence of pathological factors.