"Astrocytes" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
A class of large neuroglial (macroglial) cells in the central nervous system - the largest and most numerous neuroglial cells in the brain and spinal cord. Astrocytes (from "star" cells) are irregularly shaped with many long processes, including those with "end feet" which form the glial (limiting) membrane and directly and indirectly contribute to the BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER. They regulate the extracellular ionic and chemical environment, and "reactive astrocytes" (along with MICROGLIA) respond to injury.
| Descriptor ID |
D001253
|
| MeSH Number(s) |
A08.637.200 A11.650.200
|
| Concept/Terms |
|
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Astrocytes".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Astrocytes".
This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Astrocytes" by people in this website by year, and whether "Astrocytes" was a major or minor topic of these publications.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 1996 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 1997 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1998 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2000 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2001 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2003 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2006 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2007 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2008 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2009 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 2010 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2011 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2012 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| 2013 | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| 2014 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 2015 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2016 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 2018 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 2019 | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| 2020 | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| 2021 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 2022 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 2023 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 2024 | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Astrocytes" by people in Profiles.
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Hopx(+) optic nerve head-astrocytes counter neuronal stress and glaucoma damage. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2026 May 05; 123(18):e2515277123.
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Cerebellar tonic inhibition orchestrates the maturation of information processing and motor coordination. Exp Mol Med. 2026 Mar; 58(2):579-590.
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Astrocytic Sox9 overexpression in Alzheimer's disease mouse models promotes A? plaque phagocytosis and preserves cognitive function. Nat Neurosci. 2026 Jan; 29(1):88-99.
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Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Oct 21; 122(42):e2511596122.
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PICALM Alzheimer's risk allele causes aberrant lipid droplets in microglia. Nature. 2025 10; 646(8087):1178-1186.
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A functional perspective on astrocyte heterogeneity. Trends Neurosci. 2025 Sep; 48(9):691-705.
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Development and diversity of astrocytes. Development. 2025 Jul 01; 152(13).
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Barcoded viral tracing identifies immunosuppressive astrocyte-glioma interactions. Nature. 2025 08; 644(8078):1097-1106.
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Toxoplasma gondii infection of neurons alters the production and content of extracellular vesicles directing astrocyte phenotype and contributing to the loss of GLT-1 in the infected brain. PLoS Pathog. 2025 Jun; 21(6):e1012733.
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Glioblastoma-instructed astrocytes suppress tumour-specific T cell immunity. Nature. 2025 07; 643(8070):219-229.