Astrocyte-neuron communication in visual cortex plasticity
-
1
KU Leuven, Biology, Belgium
Astrocytes are the natural caretaker cells of the brain, essential for maintaining circuit activity and protecting neuronal function. These highly branched glial cells, are closely associated with synapses and as such ideally positioned pharmaceutical entry points for controlling synaptic activity. Through gliotransmission, at the tripartite synapse, astrocytes can influence neuronal signalling, making them potent plasticity modulators.
This project aims at unravelling how and to what extent astrocytes are involved in plasticity phenomena induced by monocular enucleation (ME) in the visual cortex. We have already observed an increase in astrocyte amount in the cortical areas affected by ME. Moreover we have reason to believe that these newly formed astrocytes are molecularly different between the investigated cortical regions. We therefore hypothesize that astrocyte-neuron and astrocyte-astrocyte communication/interactions could be essential mechanisms underlying sensory loss-induced recovery processes. An integrated single cell -omics approach will be implemented to reveal these key molecular players and to possibly identify new astrocyte specific targets for therapeutic intervention for frequently occurring neurological disorders such as depression, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.
Further characterization of local as well as brain-wide anatomical, molecular and functional astrocytic alterations induced by ME, will illustrate the role of astrocytes in cortical plasticity processes and will aid in further putting astrocytes on the map as major regulators of brain function.
Keywords:
Astrocytes,
neuroplasticity,
Visual Cortex,
gliotransmission,
single cell analysis
Conference:
12th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience, Gent, Belgium, 22 May - 22 May, 2017.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia: Cellular Mechanisms
Citation:
Hennes
M and
Arckens
L
(2019). Astrocyte-neuron communication in visual cortex plasticity.
Front. Neurosci.
Conference Abstract:
12th National Congress of the Belgian Society for Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2017.94.00077
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
24 Apr 2017;
Published Online:
25 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Maroussia Hennes, KU Leuven, Biology, Leuven, 3000, Belgium, maroussia.hennes@bio.kuleuven.be