Characterizing astrocyte-mediated neurovascular coupling by combining optogenetics and biophysical modeling.

ABSTRACT: Vasoactive signaling from astrocytes is an important contributor to the neurovascular coupling (NVC), which aims at providing energy to neurons during brain activation by increasing blood perfusion in the surrounding vasculature. Pharmacological manipulations have been previously combined with experimental techniques (e.g., transgenic mice, uncaging, and multiphoton microscopy) and stimulation paradigms to isolate in vivo individual pathways of the astrocyte-mediated NVC. Unfortunately, these pathways are highly nonlinear and non-additive. To separate these pathways in a unified framework, we combine a comprehensive biophysical model of vasoactive signaling from astrocytes with a unique optogenetic stimulation method that selectively induces astrocytic Ca²⁺ signaling in a

SUBMITTER: Suarez A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11719438 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature