Generation of morphologically distinct astrocyte subtypes from human iPSCs reveals a link between glial shape, function and reactivity

Astrocyte morphology in vivo is heterogeneous across different subtypes and dynamically changes in response to various stimuli. However, several questions on the mechanistic links between shape and function remain unanswered. Here, we developed an efficient protocol to generate pure populations of morphologically distinct human astrocytes in vitro, which we used for a systematic analysis of shape-function relationships. We performed a structural, molecular, and functional characterization of these populations and highlighted how their distinct morphologies mirror distinct functional and transcriptional patterns at the population level. We were also able to both correlate gene expression profiles of these morphologically distinct astrocyte subtypes with in vivo astrocytes in the human brain, and to validate our findings with primary isolated murine astrocytes in vitro. Moreover, we show that the observed morphological differences are correlated with changes in key cytoskeletal proteins, which offers a potential link to the observed functional differences. Finally, we demonstrated that different morphological subtypes of astrocytes have distinct reactivity responses to a common stimulus. This study offers a glimpse into the shape-function dynamics of human astrocytes, highlighting potential mechanistic links between cytoskeletal usage and astrocyte function, while also providing tools and datasets that will be useful for further studies into human glial biology in health and disease.