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Electrophysiological and Ionic Transport Properties of Glial Cells in Culture

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Model Systems of Development and Aging of the Nervous System

Abstract

Over the past two decades, it has become increasingly clear that glial cells can no longer be considered as playing a passive role in the central nervous system (CNS). Numerous investigations have demonstrated that the glial cell, and particularly the astrocyte, is the unit that performs the function of removing depolarization products of neuronal firing such as CO2, H+, K+, NH3, and various neurotransmitters (for review, see Hertz, 1982; Walz and Hertz, 1983a; Hertz and Richardson, 1984). In addition, astrocytes possess an active anion transport system that is dependent in part on the glial-specific enzyme carbonic anhydrase and a bicarbonate-stimulated ATPase. It is through this action to regulate both potassium homeostasis and interstial pH in the CNS that glial cells are thought to be important determinants of brain excitability. As early as 1965, Hertz suggested that glial cells might be involved in K+ homeostasis within the CNS and, in this respect, to be involved in regulating brain function (Hertz, 1965). This chapter reviews our current knowledge concerning the glial cell role in cation, anion, and acid-base homeostasis, and the effects of drugs on these various processes.

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Authors
  1. H. Steve White
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  2. Dixon M. Woodbury
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 4200 East 9th Avenue, 80262, Denver, CO, USA

    Antonia Vernadakis

  2. Neurobiologie du Développement, INSERM U249, F-34060, Montpellier Cedex, France

    Alain Privat

  3. Department of Anatomy, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 27514, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jean M. Lauder

  4. Department of Physiology-Anatomy, University of California, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Paola S. Timiras

  5. Department of Pharmacology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, PO Box 3926, 62708, Springfield, IL, USA

    Ezio Giacobini

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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishing, Boston

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White, H.S., Woodbury, D.M. (1987). Electrophysiological and Ionic Transport Properties of Glial Cells in Culture. In: Vernadakis, A., Privat, A., Lauder, J.M., Timiras, P.S., Giacobini, E. (eds) Model Systems of Development and Aging of the Nervous System. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2037-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2037-1_12

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