Zinc induces reactive astrogliosis through ERK‐dependent activation of Stat3 and promotes synaptic degeneration

Reactive astrogliosis is an early event in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain and plays a key role in synaptic degeneration in AD development. Zinc accumulates in extracellular fraction and synaptosomes in AD human brains with its effect on reactive astrocytes remaining unknown. Through Western blotting, Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and immunofluorescence detection on primary astrocytes treated by zinc and/or zinc chelator, we...