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Modulation of synchronous calcium oscillations in hippocampal neurons by photostimulation of astrocytes with femtosecond laser

  • Article
  • SPECIAL TOPIC: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Materials Science
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

A large body of evidence indicates that astrocytes play an important role in a range of brain functions through calcium (Ca2+) signaling. Experimentally evoking Ca2+ signaling is a useful technique for investigating the functions of astrocytes. However, conventional stimulation methods typically have poor spatio-temporal precision, and some are invasive. Our group has developed a technique to overcome these problems, in which astrocytes are photostimulated with a femtosecond laser. In the current study, we applied this method to a hippocampal neural network to explore astrocytic functions in detail. The results revealed that applying photostimulation to astrocytes in a cultured hippocampal astrocyte-neuron network caused the following changes: (i) Synchronous Ca2+ oscillations in neurons were induced; (ii) spontaneous Ca2+ synchrony instantaneously emerged; and (iii) high-frequency spontaneous Ca2+ synchrony was regulated. Thus, astrocytic Ca2+ signaling evoked by photostimulation was found to modulate synchronous Ca2+ oscillations in hippocampal neurons. We propose that photostimulation with a femtosecond laser will serve as a powerful tool in investigating astrocytic functions at the network level.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yuan Zhao, XiuLi Liu, Yuan Zhang, Wei Zhou & ShaoQun Zeng

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  1. Yuan Zhao
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  2. XiuLi Liu
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  3. Yuan Zhang
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  4. Wei Zhou
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  5. ShaoQun Zeng
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Correspondence to ShaoQun Zeng.

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Zhao, Y., Liu, X., Zhang, Y. et al. Modulation of synchronous calcium oscillations in hippocampal neurons by photostimulation of astrocytes with femtosecond laser. Chin. Sci. Bull. 55, 3436–3440 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-3376-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-010-3376-z

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