Journal
CEREBRAL CORTEX
Volume 18, Issue 10, Pages 2450-2459Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhn009
Keywords
astrocyte; barrel cortex; calcium; neuron-glia interaction; slice
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Funding
- DFG [SFB 515]
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Sensory information from single whiskers in rodents projects to defined morphological units in the cortex, the barrels. We found that astrocytes selectively respond with an increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration to activation of layer 4 neurons, the input cells of the barrel columns. The neuronal Ca2+ signal also spread across barrel column borders mainly in layer 2/3, but the glutamate-mediated astrocyte response stayed restricted to the barrel column. In contrast, when interfering with inhibitory pathways by blocking either purinergic, adenosine or gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) receptors, the stimulation activated a Ca2+ response in a much larger astrocyte population no longer restricted to the borders of the barrel column. We also observed spontaneous and evoked Ca2+ activity in the synaptic target cells of layer 4 neurons, the layer 2/3 pyramidal cells, but again, we never recorded Ca2+ responses in astrocytes following activity in this neuronal population. Our data show that astrocytes can discriminate and selectively respond to the activity of a subpopulation of excitatory neurons within a given brain region. This selectivity in the astrocyte response describes a new level of complexity and integration in the reaction of astrocytes to neuronal activity.
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