Aquaporin 4: A player in cerebral edema and neuroinflammation

Andrew M. Fukuda, Jerome Badaut

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Neuroinflammation is a common pathological event observed in many different brain diseases, frequently associated with blood brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction and followed by cerebral edema. Neuroinflammation is characterized with microglia activation and astrogliosis, which is a hypertrophy of the astrocytes. Astrocytes express aquaporin 4, the water channel protein, involved in water homeostasis and edema formation. Aside from its function in water homeostasis, recent studies started to show possible interrelations between aquaporin 4 and neuroinflammation. In this review the roles of aquaporin 4 in neuroinflammation associated with BBB disruption and cerebral edema will be discussed with recent studies in the field.

Original languageEnglish
Article number771
JournalJournal of Neuroinflammation
Volume9
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 27 2012

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • Immunology
  • Neurology
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Keywords

  • Aquaporin
  • Astrocyte
  • Blood brain barrier
  • Neuroinflammation
  • Stroke
  • Traumatic brain injury

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