Neural Circuit-Specialized Astrocytes: Transcriptomic, Proteomic, Morphological, and Functional Evidence.

ABSTRACT: Astrocytes are ubiquitous in the brain and are widely held to be largely identical. However, this view has not been fully tested, and the possibility that astrocytes are neural circuit specialized remains largely unexplored. Here, we used multiple integrated approaches, including RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), mass spectrometry, electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, serial block-face-scanning electron microscopy, morphological reconstructions, pharmacogenetics, and diffusible dye, calcium, and glutamate imaging, to directly compare adult striatal and hippocampal astrocytes under identical conditions. We found significant differences in electrophysiological properties, Ca²⁺ signaling, morphology, and astrocyte-synapse proximity between striatal and hippocampal astrocytes. Unbiased

SUBMITTER: Chai H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5811312 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature