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World J Clin Cases. May 26, 2023; 11(15): 3385-3394
Published online May 26, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i15.3385
Astrocytes in the central nervous system and their functions in health and disease: A review
Lidija Gradisnik, Tomaz Velnar
Lidija Gradisnik, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Medical Faculty Maribor, Maribor 2000, Slovenia
Tomaz Velnar, Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
Tomaz Velnar, AMEU ECM Maribor, Maribor 2000, Slovenia
Author contributions: Velnar T and Gradisnik L drafted the manuscript, participated in the design of the study and were involved with data collection; Velnar T participated in design and oversight of the study; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tomaz Velnar, PhD, Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zaloska 7, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia. tvelnar@hotmail.com
Received: December 17, 2022
Peer-review started: December 17, 2022
First decision: January 3, 2023
Revised: February 19, 2023
Accepted: April 14, 2023
Article in press: April 14, 2023
Published online: May 26, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Astrocytes are a part of neuroglia with extremely diverse morphology and functions. They participate in numerous physiological processes, such as regulation of axonal growth and support, blood-brain barrier formation, immune responses as well as functioning in higher cognitive functions, including memory. Since modern research has confirmed the morphological diversity of astrocytes both in vitro and in vivo, they remain in the centre of investigation.