Lesion-remote astrocytes govern microglia-mediated white matter repair.

ABSTRACT: Spared regions of the damaged central nervous system undergo dynamic remodelling and exhibit a remarkable potential for therapeutic exploitation¹. Lesion-remote astrocytes (LRAs), which interact with viable neurons and glia, undergo reactive transformations whose molecular and functional properties are poorly understood². Here, using multiple transcriptional profiling methods, we investigated LRAs from spared regions of mouse spinal cord following traumatic spinal cord injury. We show that LRAs acquire a spectrum of molecularly distinct, neuroanatomically restricted reactivity states that evolve after spinal cord injury. We identify transcriptionally unique reactive LRAs in degenerating white matter that direct the specification and function of local microglia that cl

SUBMITTER: McCallum S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12823418 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature