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Main Menu - Block
- Overview
- Anatomy and Histology
- Cryo-Electron Microscopy
- Electron Microscopy
- Flow Cytometry
- Gene Targeting and Transgenics
- Immortalized Cell Line Culture
- Integrative Imaging
- Invertebrate Shared Resource
- Janelia Experimental Technology
- Mass Spectrometry
- Media Prep
- Molecular Genomics
- Primary & iPS Cell Culture
- Project Pipeline Support
- Project Technical Resources
- Quantitative Genomics
- Scientific Computing Software
- Scientific Computing Systems
- Viral Tools
- Vivarium

Abstract
To date, it has been difficult to reveal physiological Ca(2+) events occurring within the fine astrocytic processes of mature animals. The objective of the study was to explore whether neuronal activity evokes astrocytic Ca(2+) signals at glutamatergic synapses of adult mice. We stimulated the Schaffer collateral/commissural fibers in acute hippocampal slices from adult mice transduced with the genetically encoded Ca(2+) indicator GCaMP5E driven by the glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter. Two-photon imaging revealed global stimulation-evoked astrocytic Ca(2+) signals with distinct latencies, rise rates, and amplitudes in fine processes and somata. Specifically, the Ca(2+) signals in the processes were faster and of higher amplitude than those in the somata. A combination of P2 purinergic and group I/II metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) antagonists reduced the amplitude of the Ca(2+) transients by 30-40% in both astrocytic compartments. Blockage of the mGluRs alone only modestly reduced the magnitude of the stimulation-evoked Ca(2+) signals in processes and failed to affect the somatic Ca(2+) response. Local application of group I or I/II mGluR agonists or adenosine triphosphate (ATP) elicited global astrocytic Ca(2+) signals that mimicked the stimulation-evoked astrocytic Ca(2+) responses. We conclude that stimulation-evoked Ca(2+) signals in astrocytic processes at CA3-CA1 synapses of adult mice (1) differ from those in astrocytic somata and (2) are modulated by glutamate and ATP.