Previously, astrocytes were thought of as mere support cells, performing the brain's grunt work. Says Neurobiology training faculty member Cagla Eroglu, "They were considered to be silent "because they don't generate obvious pulses of electrical activity. Because of this silence and "because of the way we used to study neural modulation in the past, we may have overlooked the important contributions of astrocytes," Eroglu says. Now, recent studies on the role of astrocytes involving fruit flies, zebrafish, and mice, have discovered that astrocytes have a much more sophisticated function: acting as intermediaries to neurons and influencing messages at neural synapses, and so directly regulating animal behaviors. This surprising functionality as active contributors to cognitive processes and mood regulation now makes them a potential target for therapeutic drugs to treat various mental health disorders.
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