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Astrocytes control GABAergic inhibition of neurons in the mouse barrel cortex
Author(s) -
Benedetti B.,
Matyash V.,
Kettenmann H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2010.203224
Subject(s) - neuroscience , gabaergic , somatosensory system , bapta , premovement neuronal activity , astrocyte , barrel cortex , neuron , biology , calcium imaging , cortex (anatomy) , gamma aminobutyric acid , receptor , chemistry , calcium , intracellular , microbiology and biotechnology , central nervous system , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , biochemistry , organic chemistry
Non‐technical summary In the last few years astrocytes have come to be recognized as active elements contributing to brain activity. They sense and modulate neuronal activity, and often changes in their cytosolic Ca 2+ are essential for neuron–glia interactions. In the present study we interfered with intracellular calcium signalling in astrocytes in mouse somatosensory cortex by dialysis with the calcium chelator BAPTA. Such treatment increased excitability of the nearby neurons. The effect of astrocytic calcium chelation was mimicked by pharmacological inhibition of GABA receptors, suggesting that this control is GABA mediated through a combined involvement of GABA A and GABA B receptors. This finding demonstrates a role for astrocytes in the regulation of neural inhibition in somatosensory (barrel) cortex and adds a new variant to the growing number of pathways by which astrocytes can modulate neuronal networks.