Topic: CD49f

The expression of the surface integrin protein CD49f characterizes astrocytes that strongly respond to pro-inflammatory stimuli and secret neurotoxic lipoparticles enriched in saturated long and very-long-chain fatty acids. Given the critical role of this astrocyte subset in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, models to study and modify their neurotoxic phenotype are in increasing demand. Here we propose CD49f enriched human astrocytic U373 cells as a cost- and time-effective model to evaluate the metabolic and functional changes that reactive astrocytes undergo under pro-inflammatory con