Abstract
Highly neurotoxic A1-reactive astrocytes have been associated with several human neurodegenerative diseases. Complement protein C3 expression is strongly upregulated in A1 astrocytes, and this protein has been shown to be a specific biomarker of these astrocytes. Several cytokines released in neurodegenerative diseases have been shown to upregulate the production of amyloid β protein precursor (APP) and neurotoxic amyloid β (Aβ) peptides in reactive astrocytes. Also, aberrant Ca(2+) signals have been proposed as a hallmark of astrocyte functional remodeling in Alzheimer's disease mouse models. In this work, we induced the generation of A1-like reactive astrocytes after the co-treatment of U251 human astroglioma cells with a cocktail of the cytokines TNF-α, IL1-α and C1q. These A1-like astrocytes show increased production of APP and Aβ peptides compared to untreated U251 cells. Additionally, A1-like astrocytes show a (75 ± 10)% decrease in the Ca(2+) stored in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), (85 ± 10)% attenuation of Ca(2+) entry after complete Ca(2+) depletion of the ER, and three-fold upregulation of plasma membrane calcium pump expression, with respect to non-treated Control astrocytes. These altered intracellular Ca(2+) dynamics allow A1-like astrocytes to efficiently counterbalance the enhanced release of Ca(2+) from the ER, preventing a rise in the resting cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration.