Invite : Dr Anne-Cécile Boulay
Unité : Physiology and physiopathology of the Gliovascular Unit
Collège de France, CIRB – INSERM U1050
Paris France
TITRE : Postnatal development of the gliovascular unit
Astrocytes are major players in adult cerebral vascular physiology: they are involved in the coupling between blood flow and neuronal activity, participate in the maintenance of the blood-brain barrier, regulate perivascular homeostasis and cerebrospinal fluid circulation and are essential for immune quiescence. These regulations are supported by morphological and molecular polarity: astrocytes possess perivascular extensions, also called endfeet, where specific proteins are enriched, and that entirely cover the blood vessels to form the gliovascular unit. How this pluricellular organization arises during development is still largely unknown, both structurally and functionally. I will present recent data where we have found key postnatal periods for both endfeet formation and final maturation of vascular functions, thus providing a new framework for the study of gliovascular unit formation.