Nanosecond UV lasers stimulate transient Ca elevations in human hNT astrocytes.

OBJECTIVE

Astrocytes respond to various stimuli resulting in intracellular Ca signals that can propagate through organized functional networks. Recent literature calls for the development of techniques that can stimulate astrocytes in a fast and highly localized manner to emulate more closely the characteristics of astrocytic Ca signals in vivo.

APPROACH

In this article we demonstrate, for the first time, how nanosecond UV lasers are capable of reproducibly stimulating Ca transients in human hNT astrocytes.

MAIN RESULTS

We report that laser pulses with a beam energy of 4-29 µJ generate transient increases in cytosolic Ca. These Ca transients then propagate to adjacent astrocytes as intercellular Ca waves.

SIGNIFICANCE

We propose that nanosecond laser stimulation provides a valuable tool for enabling the study of Ca dynamics in human astrocytes at both a single cell and network level. Compared to previously developed techniques nanosecond laser stimulation has the advantage of not requiring loading of photo-caged or -sensitising agents, is non-contact, enables stimulation with a high spatiotemporal resolution and is comparatively cost effective.