Scientific Understanding of Consciousness
Consciousness as an Emergent Property of Thalamocortical Activity

Hippocampal Short- and Long-Term Plasticity Not Modulated by Astrocyte Signaling

 

 

Science 5 March 2010: Vol. 327. no. 5970, pp. 1250 - 1254

Hippocampal Short- and Long-Term Plasticity Are Not Modulated by Astrocyte Ca²⁺ Signaling

Cendra Agulhon,¹ Todd A. Fiacco,² Ken D. McCarthy¹

¹ Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Genetic Medicine Building, CB 7365, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
² Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.

(paraphrase)

The concept that astrocytes release neuroactive molecules (gliotransmitters) to affect synaptic transmission has been a paradigm shift in neuroscience research over the past decade. This concept suggests that astrocytes, together with pre- and postsynaptic neuronal elements, make up a functional synapse. Astrocyte release of gliotransmitters (for example, glutamate and adenosine triphosphate) is generally accepted to be a Ca²⁺-dependent process. We used two mouse lines to either selectively increase or obliterate astrocytic G_q G protein–coupled receptor Ca²⁺ signaling to further test the hypothesis that astrocytes release gliotransmitters in a Ca²⁺-dependent manner to affect synaptic transmission. Neither increasing nor obliterating astrocytic Ca²⁺ fluxes affects spontaneous and evoked excitatory synaptic transmission or synaptic plasticity. Our findings suggest that, at least in the hippocampus, the mechanisms of gliotransmission need to be reconsidered.

(end of paraphrase)

 

 

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