Review
Aquaporin 4: a player in cerebral edema and neuroinflammation
1 Departments of Physiology, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA, 92354, USA
2 Departments of Pediatrics, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA, 92354, USA
Journal of Neuroinflammation 2012, 9:279 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-9-279
Published: 27 December 2012Abstract
Neuroinflammation is a common pathological event observed in many different brain diseases, frequently associated with blood brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction and followed by cerebral edema. Neuroinflammation is characterized with microglia activation and astrogliosis, which is a hypertrophy of the astrocytes. Astrocytes express aquaporin 4, the water channel protein, involved in water homeostasis and edema formation. Aside from its function in water homeostasis, recent studies started to show possible interrelations between aquaporin 4 and neuroinflammation. In this review the roles of aquaporin 4 in neuroinflammation associated with BBB disruption and cerebral edema will be discussed with recent studies in the field.
