Astrocytes are remarkably branched brain cells that simultaneously contact neurons and the vasculature, sensing and integrating signals from both. Astrocytes enwrap and interact with the whole brain vasculature to undergo essential brain functions, and both astrocyte and vasculature are altered early in neurodegenerative diseases. The Díaz Castro lab investigates the function of the astrocyte endfoot – the astrocyte subcellular compartment that interacts with the vasculature – and how it communicates with the cells that form the brain blood vessels in health and conditions that lead to cognitive decline.

In this talk, Dr Díaz Castro will share data to show how, using new proteomics methods developed in her lab, they are beginning to understand the molecular communication between the vasculature and the astrocyte endfeet in both in vivo rodent models of disease and postmortem human vasculature. In particular, she will present her lab’s most recent data on how the communication of astrocyte endfeet and the brain vasculature is altered during systemic inflammation, ageing and amyloidopathy, conditions that lead to cognitive decline and in which the brain vascular components are altered long before neuronal death.