Purinergic signalling in neuron-glia interactions - 276 (No. 276.)

ATP, the intracellular energy source, is also an extremelyimportant cell cell signalling molecule for a wide variety ofcells across evolutionarily diverse organisms. The extracellularbiochemistry of ATP and its derivatives is complex, and themultiple membrane receptors that it activates are linked to manyintracellular signalling systems.

Purinergic signalling affects a diverse range of cellularphenomena, including ion channel function, cytoskeletal dynamics,gene expression, secretion, cell proliferation, differentiation andcell death.  Recently, this class of signalling molecules andreceptors has been found to mediate communication between neuronsand non–neuronal cells (glia) in the central and peripheral nervoussystems. Glia are critical for normal brain function, developmentand response to injury. Neural impulse activity is detected by gliaand purinergic signalling is emerging as a major means ofintegrating functional activity between neurons, glia and vascularcells in the nervous system. These interactions mediate effects ofneural activity on the development of the nervous system and inassociation with injury, neurodegeneration, myelination andcancer.

Bringing together contributions from experts in diverse fields,including glial biologists, neurobiologists and specialists inpurinergic receptor structure and pharmacology, this book considershow extracellular ATP acts to integrate communication betweendifferent types of glia, and between neurons and glia. Beginning with an overview of glia and purinergic signalling, itcontains detailed coverage of purine release, receptors andreagents, purinergic signalling in the neural control of glialdevelopment, glial involvement in information processing, anddiscussion of the interactions between neurons and microglia.