what is gliosis and what are its symptoms and treatment

by Marlen Reinger IV Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Learn all about Gliosis meaning, definition, symptoms, causes and treatment. Gliosis is NOT a disease or syndrome; it is a description of an area of scarring in the brain, perhaps secondary to prior trauma or disease. Gliosis is a process of scarring in the central nervous system.

Full Answer

What is gliosis and how does it affect the body?

What is the difference between necrosis and gliosis?

couh ,fever: Symptoms include cough , mild fever, body aches, headache, wheezing . Treatment depends on bacteria or viral includind support med for cough , for fe... Read More

What is astrocytic gliosis (gliosis)?

Gliosis is a fibrous proliferation of glial cells in injured areas of the CNS. Gliosis and neuronal loss is prevalent in glioma as well as in many other human neurological disorders including MS, viral encephalitis, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and cardiac arrest.

Is there a cure for gliosis?

Chronic Oxytocin treatment has long lasting therapeutic potential in a rat model of neonatal hypercapnic-hypoxia injury, through enhanced GABAergic signaling and by reducing hippocampal gliosis with its anti-inflammatory feature.

What is the treatment for gliosis?

One notable microglial activation inhibitor is minocycline, which is a known suppressor of astrogliosis. The cell cycle inhibitor olomoucine also has been shown to suppress both microglial and astroglial proliferation as well as glial scar formation.

What are the symptoms of gliosis in the brain?

Common signs and symptoms of gliomas include:Headache.Nausea or vomiting.Confusion or a decline in brain function.Memory loss.Personality changes or irritability.Difficulty with balance.Urinary incontinence.Vision problems, such as blurred vision, double vision or loss of peripheral vision.More items...•Apr 4, 2020

What are the causes of gliosis?

Result: The causes of gliosis included cranial infection, specially infection caused by virus without distinct symptoms cerebral ischemia, brain injury, radiological treatment of brain. most cases showed symptoms of intracranial hypertension, 55.9% of the patients accompanied with epilepsy.

What does gliosis in the brain mean?

Gliosis: A process leading to scars in the central nervous system that involves the production of a dense fibrous network of neuroglia (supporting cells) in areas of damage. Gliosis is a prominent feature of many diseases of the central nervous system, including multiple sclerosis and stroke.Jun 3, 2021

Can gliosis be cured?

Unfortunately, necrosis cannot be reversed, but some treatments can stop necrosis from spreading to other cells. Gliosis occurs when your body creates more or larger glial cells (cells that support nerve cells). These new glial cells can cause scars in your brain that impact how your body works.

Is gliosis normal?

Gliosis is a common parenchymal reaction in the CNS and, although indicative of a pathological process, it is entirely nonspecific. Fibrillary and especially gemistocytic gliosis may at times be difficult to distinguish from a low-grade infiltrating astrocytoma, especially in smears or small biopsies.

What is gliosis in brain MRI?

Gliosis is a reactive process occurring after some time following most types of central nervous system injuries and is the result of focal proliferation of glial cells, particularly astrocytes.Feb 6, 2022

What is gliosis MRI?

Can gliosis cause memory loss?

Reactive Gliosis While activation is initiated immediately upon injury, it is often sustained chronically which is linked to damaging neuronal homeostasis and memory deficits (Hanisch and Kettenmann, 2007; Ramlackhansingh et al., 2011; Mannix and Whalen, 2012; Smith et al., 2012; Johnson et al., 2013).Feb 29, 2016

Can gliosis be cancerous?

Gliomas are tumors that form in glial cells in the brain and spinal cord. They're usually cancerous. It's rare for gliomas to spread to other areas of your body. But they can grow quickly through the brain and spine and are life-threatening.Oct 20, 2021

Can gliosis cause seizures?

Astrocytes in the Epileptic Brain Gliosis is frequent in the human epileptic brain and seizures have been shown to frequently initiate within or very near gliotic brain tissues (McKhann et al., 2000).Jul 12, 2012

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What is left over brain tissue?

Gliosis: Gliosis is essentially what is left over in the brain after some injury. Think of it as scar tissue. Ischemic means it is result of decreased blood ... Read More

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What is gliosis in neurology?

Neurology. Gliosis is a nonspecific reactive change of glial cells in response to damage to the central nervous system (CNS). In most cases, gliosis involves the proliferation or hypertrophy of several different types of glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. In its most extreme form, ...

What is gliosis response?

Gliosis is the universal response of the CNS to tissue injury and occur s as a result of many acute conditions such as trauma, ischemia, and stroke. Additionally, gliosis is present in a wide variety of CNS pathologies, including Alzheimer's disease, Korsakoff's syndrome, multiple system atrophy, prion disease, multiple sclerosis, AIDS dementia complex, vasculitis, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Huntington's disease. In every case, gliosis involves some degree of hypertrophy or proliferation of glial cells, but the extent and nature of the gliosis response vary widely based on the triggering insult. Gliosis in any form entails an alteration in cellular activity that has the potential to create widespread effects on neurons as well as other non-neural cells, causing either a loss of normal functions or a gain of detrimental ones. In this light, gliosis may be seen not only as a characteristic of many neuropathologies but as a potential contributor to, or even cause of, many CNS disease mechanisms. A select group of CNS conditions associated with gliosis are described below.

How does gliosis affect neuropathology?

The implications of gliosis in various neuropathologies and injury conditions has led to the investigation of various therapeutic routes which would regulate specific aspects of gliosis in order to improve clinical outcomes for both CNS trauma and a wide range of neurological disorders. Because gliosis is a dynamic process which involves a spectrum of changes depending on the type and severity of the initial insult, to date, no single molecular target has been identified which could improve healing in all injury contexts. Rather, therapeutic strategies for minimizing the contribution of astrogliosis to CNS pathologies must be designed to target specific molecular pathways and responses. One promising therapeutic mechanism is the use of β-lactam antibiotics to enhance the glutamate uptake of astrocytes in order to reduce excitotoxicity and provide neuroprotection in models of stroke and ALS. Other proposed targets related to astrogliosis include manipulating AQP4 channels, diminishing the action of NF-kB, or regulating the STAT3 pathway in order to reduce the inflammatory effects of reactive astrocytes. Astrogliosis may also be attenuated by inhibiting the microgliosis response. One notable microglial activation inhibitor is minocycline, which is a known suppressor of astrogliosis. The cell cycle inhibitor olomoucine also has been shown to suppress both microglial and astroglial proliferation as well as glial scar formation. Future directions for identifying novel therapeutic strategies must carefully account for the complex array of factors and signaling mechanisms driving the gliosis response, particularly in different stages after damage and in different lesion conditions.

What is the first response to injury?

Typically, the first response to injury is the migration of macrophages and local microglia to the injury site.

Is gliosis a inflammatory disease?

Gliosis is a prominent feature of many autoimmune inflammatory disorders, notably multiple sclerosis, in which demyelinated plaques are surrounded by reactive astrocytes. These astrocytes often exhibit extreme hypertrophy and multiple distinct nuclei, and their production of pro-inflammatory molecules has been implicated in several inflammatory disorders. Cytokines produced by both active astrocytes and microglia in inflammatory conditions may contribute to myelin damage and may alter blood-brain barrier permeability, allowing the migration of lymphocytes into the CNS and heightening the autoimmune attack.

What is the role of microglia in the CNS?

Microglia, another type of glial cell, act as macrophage-like cells in the CNS when activated. Unlike other glial cell types, microglia are extremely sensitive to even small changes in the cellular environment, allowing for a rapid response to inflammatory signals and prompt destruction of infectious agents before sensitive neural tissue can be damaged. Due to their fast response time, microgliosis, or the activation of microglia, is commonly the first observed stage of gliosis.

Is gliosis a hallmark of Alzheimer's?

Gliosis has long been known as a characteristic of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), although its exact role in the disease remains unknown. Gliosis and glial scarring occur in areas surrounding the amyloid plaques which are hallmarks of the disease, and postmortem tissues have indicated a correlation between the degree of astrogliosis and cognitive decline. Exposure of reactive astrocytes to β-amyloid (Αβ) peptide, the main component of amyloid plaques, may also induce astroglial dysfunction and neurotoxicity. In addition, the ability of reactive astrocytes to degrade extracellular Αβ deposits may suggest that astrogliosis may affect the progression or severity of AD.

What is gliosis in the brain?

Gliosis, also called astrocytic gliosis or astrocytosis, is a common term that refers to the reactive astrocytic response to a brain injury or insult. Almost all brain lesions have a component of gliosis, even with different glial pathologies. Gliosis is a secondary event to CNS damage and may persist for weeks or months after brain injury. This condition occurs after infarct and is associated with infections and neoplasm as well as with demyelinating, toxic, and metabolic diseases. In gliosis, astrocytes hypertrophy, the nuclei become enlarged, and the chromatin becomes less dense while nucleoli become more prominent. There is an increased number of organelles and higher production of the intermediate filaments GFAP, nestin, and vimentin, which results in greater and more highly condensed glial processes and fibers. The increased glial processes replace injured CNS cells and form a gliotic scar. It is thought that the glial scar limits edema and prevents neuronal regeneration in the CNS by blocking regenerating axons from entering the damaged areas. With gliosis there is the release of cytokines, growth factors, and extracellular matrix proteins, which may be involved in immune response, neuroprotection, or possible further damage. The term “reactive gliosis” normally refers to massive hypertrophy of astrocytes; however, it is apparent that gliosis is inherently reactive.

How long does it take for gliosis to occur?

Although subtle changes occur earlier, gliosis is usually appreciated by two to three weeks after an injury. Nearly any injury of the CNS can cause gliosis, so its presence is not diagnostic of a specific pathologic entity (see Table 20.2 ). 15

What is the most common reaction of the CNS to injury?

Gliosis is the most common reaction of the CNS to injury. It presents in the form of hypertrophy and hyperplasia of fibrillary astrocytes, some of which acquire abundant cytoplasm and transform into so called gemistocytes. Cytoplasmic extensions of these astrocytes form a dense meshwork of “glial fibrils,” which results in the formation ...

Is gliosis a neuronal disease?

Gliosis and neuronal loss is prevalent in glioma as well as in many other human neurological disorders including MS, viral encephalitis, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and cardiac arrest.

Is gliosis a secondary effect of MPTP?

Inflammation is considered to be a secondary effect, but may play an important role in enhancing neurodegeneration by the production of cytokines and prostaglandins. Experimental animal models have shown that treatment with the antibiotic minocycline can reduce the level of degeneration by MPTP ( Du et al., 2001; Wu et al., 2002 ). As a result of these reports, a controlled clinical futility trial testing minocycline was conducted, showing minocycline not to be futile ( NINDS NET-PD Investigators, 2006 ).

Is gliosis a deleterious response?

Gliosis is usually considered to be a deleterious response in multiple sclerosis. However, the close apposition of glial membranes to demyelinated axons should theoretically aid conduction by affecting the passive cable properties of the axons (Shrager and Rubinstein 1990 ).

Is gliosis a neurotoxin?

If gliosis is a feature of toxic brain injury, there should be evidence of gliosis in brain of patients with progressive degenerative dopamine deficiency conditions that might be relevant to METH as a dopamine neurotoxin.

Etiology

Radiologic evidence that hypothalamic gliosis is improved after bariatric surgery in obese women with type 2 diabetes.

Therapy

Effect of pioglitazone treatment on brown adipose tissue volume and activity and hypothalamic gliosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a proof-of-concept study.

Prognosis

The Severity of Gliosis in Hippocampal Sclerosis Correlates with Pre-Operative Seizure Burden and Outcome After Temporal Lobectomy.

Clinical prediction guides

Age-Related Gliosis Promotes Central Nervous System Lymphoma through CCL19-Mediated Tumor Cell Retention.

Overview

Gliosis is a nonspecific reactive change of glial cells in response to damage to the central nervous system (CNS). In most cases, gliosis involves the proliferation or hypertrophy of several different types of glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. In its most extreme form, the proliferation associated with gliosis leads to the formation of a glial scar.
The process of gliosis involves a series of cellular and molecular events that occur over several …

Astrogliosis

Reactive astrogliosis is the most common form of gliosis and involves the proliferation of astrocytes, a type of glial cell responsible for maintaining extracellular ion and neurotransmitter concentrations, modulating synapse function, and forming the blood–brain barrier. Like other forms of gliosis, astrogliosis accompanies traumatic brain injuryas well as many neuropatholog…

Microgliosis

Response of oligodendrocytes

Oligodendrocytes are another type of glial cell which generate and maintain the formation of myelin around the axonsof large neurons in the CNS, allowing for rapid transmission of neural signals. Unlike astrocytes and microglia, oligodendrocytes undergo a much more limited reaction to injury. Rather, in cases of CNS trauma, they are more similar to neurons in their susceptibility to sustaining damage. The degeneration of axons as a result of trauma or pathology invariably res…

Triggers of gliosis

In general after any CNS insult, gliosis begins after the blood brain barrier is disrupted, allowing non-CNS molecules, such as blood and serum components, to enter the brain. These components, along with activated macrophagesthey carry, are known to have a role in beginning the formation of the glial scar by inducing the disconnection of axons, also called secondary axotomy, and the upregulation of fibrous extracellular matrix components which eventually form the scar tissue. T…