Over the past several decades a large amount of data have established that glial cells, the main cell population in the brain, dynamically interact with neurons and thus impact their activity and survival. One typical feature of glia is their marked expression of several connexins, the membrane proteins forming intercellular gap junction channels and hemichannels. Pannexins, which have a tetraspan membrane topology as connexins, are also detected in glial cells. Here, we review the evidence that connexin and pannexin channels are actively involved in dynamic and metabolic neuroglial interactions in physiological as well as in pathological situations. These features of neuroglial interactions open the way to identify novel non-neuronal aspects that allow for a better understanding of behavior and information processing performed by neurons. This will also complement the "neurocentric" view by facilitating the development of glia-targeted therapeutic strategies in brain disease.

中文翻译：

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健康和患病大脑中的神经胶质连接蛋白和泛新蛋白。

在过去的几十年中，大量数据已经确定神经胶质细胞是大脑中的主要细胞群，它与神经元动态相互作用，从而影响神经元的活性和存活率。胶质细胞的一个典型特征是它们明显表达几种连接蛋白，这些膜蛋白形成细胞间间隙连接通道和半通道。在神经胶质细胞中也检测到具有四跨膜拓扑结构的连接蛋白。在这里，我们审查的证据，连接蛋白和pannexin通道积极参与在生理以及病理情况下的动态和代谢神经胶质相互作用。神经胶质相互作用的这些特征为识别新的非神经元方面开辟了道路，这些方面可以更好地理解神经元的行为和信息处理。