Astrocyte CCN1 stabilizes neural circuits in the adult brain.

ABSTRACT: Neural circuits in many brain regions are refined by experience. Sensory circuits support higher plasticity at younger ages during critical periods-times of circuit refinement and maturation-and limit plasticity in adulthood for circuit stability^1,2. How astrocytes, a glial subtype, maintain these differing plasticity levels, and whether they stabilize the properties of sensory circuits in adulthood, remain largely unclear. Here we take a comprehensive approach to address these questions and establish astrocytes as key orchestrators of circuit stability. Combining a transcriptomic approach with ex vivo electrophysiology and in vivo imaging, we identify that astrocytes release CCN1 (refs. ^3,4) to maintain synapse and circuit stability in the adult visual cortex. Overex

SUBMITTER: Sancho L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12823447 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature