International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience
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Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. · Apr 2004
Maturation of astrocyte morphology and the establishment of astrocyte domains during postnatal hippocampal development.
Mature protoplasmic astrocytes exhibit an extremely dense ramification of fine processes, yielding a 'spongiform' morphology. This complex morphology enables protoplasmic astrocytes to maintain intimate relationships with many elements of the brain parenchyma, most notably synapses. Recently, it has been demonstrated that astrocytes establish individual cellular-level domains within the neuropil, with limited overlap occurring between the extents of neighboring astrocytes. ⋯ The subsequent elaboration of spongiform processes results in the development of boundaries between neighboring astrocyte domains. Stray processes that encroach on neighboring domains are eventually pruned by 1 month of age. These observations suggest that domain formation is largely the consequence of competition between astrocyte processes, similar to the well-studied competitive interactions between certain neuronal dendritic fields.