Astrocyte-induced firing in primary afferent axons.

ABSTRACT: The large-caliber primary afferents innervating the spindles of the jaw-closing muscles have their cell bodies located centrally in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (NVmes). We have shown, in an acid-induced jaw muscle chronic myalgia model, that these afferents exhibit increased excitability and ectopic discharges that emerge from subthreshold membrane oscillations (SMOs) supported by a persistent sodium current (I _NaP) exquisitely sensitive to extracellular Ca²⁺-decreases. Here, we explore if the Ca²⁺-binding astrocytic protein, S100β, contributes to this hyperexcitability emergence and aim to localize the site where ectopic discharge arises using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings on mice brain slices. We found that astrocytes, by lowering [Ca<

SUBMITTER: Gaudel F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11914515 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature