Pannasch Ulrike, Derangeon Mickael, Chever Oana, Rouach Nathalie
Neuroglial Interactions in Cerebral Physiopathology; Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology; Collège de France; CNRS UMR7241; INSERM U1050; Paris, France.
Commun Integr Biol. 2012 May 1;5(3):248-54. doi: 10.4161/cib.19410.
Astrocytes, the third element of the tripartite synapse, are active players in neurotransmission. Up to now, their involvement in neuronal functions has primarily been investigated at the single cell level. However, a key property of astrocytes is that they communicate via extensive networks formed by gap junction channels. Recently, we have shown that this networking modulates the moment to moment basal synaptic transmission and plasticity via the regulation of extracellular potassium and glutamate levels. Here we show that astroglial gap junctional communication also regulates neuronal network activity. We discuss these findings and their implications for brain information processing.
星形胶质细胞是三方突触的第三个组成部分，是神经传递中的活跃参与者。到目前为止，它们在神经元功能中的作用主要是在单细胞水平上进行研究的。然而，星形胶质细胞的一个关键特性是它们通过由缝隙连接通道形成的广泛网络进行通信。最近，我们已经表明，这种网络通过调节细胞外钾离子和谷氨酸水平来调节瞬间的基础突触传递和可塑性。在这里，我们表明星形胶质细胞缝隙连接通信也调节神经元网络活动。我们讨论了这些发现及其对大脑信息处理的影响。
