Optogenetic experimentation on astrocytes.

We briefly review the current literature where optogenetics has been used to study various aspects of astrocyte physiology in vitro and in vivo. This includes both genetically engineered Ca(2+) sensors and effector proteins, such as channelrhodopsin. We demonstrate how the ability to target astrocytes with cell-specific viral vectors to express optogenetic constructs helped to unravel some previously unsuspected roles of these inconspicuous cells.