astrocytes

According to one theory, severe head injury causes leaks in the blood-brain barrier that allow entry of serum albumen, which triggers epilepsy and seizures.

Scientists now show that albumen interacts with the TGF-beta receptor on astrocytes, triggering a cascade of events that lead to epilepsy.

In rats, TGF-beta blockers stop such changes in the brain, and may halt development of epilepsy in humans.

A type of brain cell that was long overlooked by researchers embodies one of very few ways in which the human brain differs fundamentally from that of a mouse or rat.

Human astrocytes are bigger, faster, and much more complex than those in mice and rats.