Gap junction-mediated intercellular communication in astrocytes and neuroprotection

Neuroglial interaction represents a concept that is now more and more integrated in the attempts to understand who does what and how in neuronal processing and survival, in normal as well as in pathological situations. The purpose of the review is to provide an overlook about the role of glial cells, mainly astrocytes, in neuroprotection. Since a typical feature of glia is to be connected by gap junctions that allow them to be organized as a communicating network(s), we will focus this review on what is known about the contribution of astrocyte gap junctions (AGJ) in neuronal survival. As neuroglial interaction and AGJ are both affected during neurodegenerative diseases, we will also consider the above mentioned glial properties in a pathological context with a special interest in Alzheimer's disease. (C) 2005 Elsevier SAS. Tous droits reserves.