Entrainment of Astrocytic and Neuronal Ca Population Dynamics During Information Processing of Working Memory in Mice.

Astrocytes are increasingly recognized to play an active role in learning and memory, but whether neural inputs can trigger event-specific astrocytic Ca dynamics in real time to participate in working memory remains unclear due to the difficulties in directly monitoring astrocytic Ca dynamics in animals performing tasks. Here, using fiber photometry, we showed that population astrocytic Ca dynamics in the hippocampus were gated by sensory inputs (centered at the turning point of the T-maze) and modified by the reward delivery during the encoding and retrieval phases. Notably, there was a strong inter-locked and antagonistic relationship between the astrocytic and neuronal Ca dynamics with a 3-s phase difference. Furthermore, there was a robust synchronization of astrocytic Ca at the population level among the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and striatum. The inter-locked, bidirectional communication between astrocytes and neurons at the population level may contribute to the modulation of information processing in working memory.