Astrocyte stellation, a process dependent on Rac1 is sustained by the regulated exocytosis of enlargeosomes.

ABSTRACT: Cultured astrocytes exhibit a flat/epitelioid phenotype much different from the star-like phenotype of tissue astrocytes. Upon exposure to treatments that affect the small GTPase Rho and/or its effector ROCK, however, flat astrocytes undergo stellation, with restructuring of cytoskeleton and outgrowth of processes with lamellipodia, assuming a phenotype closer to that exhibited in situ. The mechanisms of this change are known only in part. Using the ROCK blocker drug Y27632, which induces rapid (tens of min), dose-dependent and reversible stellations, we focused on two specific aspects of the process: its dependence on small GTPases and the large surface expansion of the cells. Contrary to previous reports, we found stellation to be governed by the small G protein Rac1, up to disappearance

SUBMITTER: Racchetti G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3306795 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature