Cellular and Molecular Effects of Ischemia on Brain Cells

Abstract

The structural organization of the human body settles the central nervous system as responsible for the integration on information and the modulation of all other subsystems. A role that can only be played with mastery if inside of its walls, everything is working correctly. One of the major disruptive causes of this harmony is precisely the reduction of oxygen and nutrients supply to the cells during an ischemic stroke. Therefore, the scope of this chapter is precise to describe the several intracellular signaling pathways that are activated upon an ischemic period and summarize the way they interact with each other leading to cellular dysfunction of neurons, glial cells, and vascular cells. As well as to associate those mechanisms with the tissue injury that leads to systemic effects observed on patients and their consequent functional impairments. Not forgetting the impact that the knowledge of the cellular and molecular basis of this pathology may have on the development of integrative brain repair-based therapies that lead to the recovery of injured cells and, consequently, of the functions associated with those tissues.