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My name is Robert Zorec.
I'm from Ljubljana.
And today I will talk about
exocytosis in astrocytes.
0:11
I would like to
highlight that this is
a follow-up of a
previous lecture
on the properties of
exocytosis in astrocytes
that was recorded in 2014.
Let me tell you that
our lab is studying
pathophysiology at the
subcellular level,
including vesicles.
That actually brings us to
the topic that we
aim to translate.
We want to gain
knowledge by studying
membrane fusion and
vesicle dynamics.
Then the gained
results, we hope to be
employed in translating
this into medicines.
In the field of cancer,
we have already developed
a lysosomal heterologous fusion
in cell-based immunotherapy
to treat cancer.
This therapy is
already available and
it is approved in Slovenia.
This was done after
following a clinical trial.
In the domain of
neurological indications,
we would like to understand
vesicle-based signaling and
metabolism in astrocytes.
Which is then a
platform from which
we'd like to develop
small molecules that
target neuroglial
aerobic glycolysis
to be used in treating
various disorders
including neurodegeneration and
neurodevelopmental disorders.
This is the foreground
for the lecture today.
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The first message is
that, like in neurons,
calcium-dependent exocytosis
exists in astrocytes.
It is controlled by
SNARE proteins and cholesterol,
but it is very slow.
Astrocytes act as
signal integrators.
The adaptation to regulate
homeostatic processes
in a slow-time domain,
as is the case in the
endocrine system,
brings us to the term
gliocrine system.
Astrocytes are part of
this very slow
regulating system,
hence called the
gliocrine system.
Astrocytes secrete
neurotransmitters,
a wide array of neuromodulators,
hormones, metabolic, trophic,
and plastic factors.
The release of these gliosignals
from astrocytes occurs
through distinct
pathways that include
diffusion through
plasmalemmal channels,
translocation by
multiple transporters,
and vesicle-based
regulated exocytosis.
That is the topic of
our lecture today.
These vesicles in astrocytes
are of different sizes.
At the end I'd like
to highlight that
lysosomal vesicle traffic is
altered in reactive astrocytes.
