Abstract
Until recently, glial cells have been considered mainly support cells for neurons in the mammalian brain. However, many studies have unveiled a variety of glial functions including electrolyte homeostasis, inflammation, synapse formation, metabolism, and the regulation of neurotransmission. The importance of these functions illuminates significant crosstalk between glial and neuronal cells. Importantly, it is known that astrocytes secrete signals that can modulate both presynaptic and postsynaptic function. It is also known that the lipid compositions of the pre- and post-synaptic membranes of neurons greatly impact functions such as vesicle fusion and receptor mobility. These data suggest an essential lipid-mediated communication between glial cells and neurons. Little is known, however, about how the lipid metabolism of both cell types may interact. In this review, we discuss neuronal and glial lipid metabolism and suggest how they might interact to impact neurotransmission.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Randy Franklin Stout, New York Institute of Technology, United States Arturo Ortega, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados (CINVESTAV), Mexico
Much is known about lipid metabolism within neurons and glia separately, but little is known about potential lipid metabolic crosstalk between the two cell types
We will describe the known functions of glia and their lipid metabolism and describe how glial lipid metabolism can possibly interact with neuronal lipid metabolism to regulate neurotransmission within the mammalian central nervous system
Summary
It is known that the lipid compositions of the pre- and post-synaptic membranes of neurons greatly impact functions such as vesicle fusion and receptor mobility. In addition to providing many homeostatic functions to neurons, glial cells play a large role in regulating neurotransmission. We propose that lipid metabolism from glial cells affects neurotransmission by regulating the rates of synaptic vesicle exo- and endocytosis.
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