Glial scar hand, absence of the glial scar has been associated with impairments in the repair of the blood brain barrier. The glial scar is composed of several components briefly discussed below. Reactive astrocytes are the main cellular component of the glial scar. After injury, astrocytes undergo morphological changes, extend their processes, and increase synthesis of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). GFAP is an important intermediate filament protein that allows the astrocytes to begin synthesizing more cytoskeletal supportive structures and extend pseudopodia. Ultimately, the astrocytes form a dense web of their plasma membrane extensions that fills the empty space generated by the
Glial fibrillary acidic protein Glial fibrillary acidic protein Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a protein that is encoded by the "GFAP" gene in humans. Glial fibrillary acidic protein is an intermediate filament (IF) protein that is expressed by numerous cell types of the central nervous system (CNS) including astrocytes and ependymal cells during development. GFAP has also been found to be expressed in glomeruli and peritubular fibroblasts taken from rat kidneys Leydig cells of the testis in both hamsters and humans, human keratinocytes, human osteocytes and chondrocytes and stellate cells of the pancreas and liver in rats. First described in 1971, GFAP is