Extracellular Electrophysiological Measurements of Cooperative Signals in Astrocytes Populations

Frontiers in Neural Circuits

Maria L. S. Cristiano¹  Inês M. Araújo²  Ana S. Lourenço²  Maria C. R. Medeiros⁴  João Ventura⁵  Paulo Aguiar⁸  Ana L. G. Mestre⁹  Sanaz Asgarifar⁹  Youssef Elamine⁹  Henrique L. Gomes⁹  Pedro M. C. Inácio⁹ 

[1] Centro de Ciências do Mar, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal;Centro de Investigação em Biomedicina, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal;Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal;Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal;Departamento de Física e Astronomia, Instituto de Física dos Materiais da Universidade do Porto, Instituto de Nanociências e Nanotecnologia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal;Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal;Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal;Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal;Instituto de Telecomunicações, Lisboa, Portugal;

关键词: astrocytes;    electrophysiology;    electrodes;    signals;    extracellular;    glia;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fncir.2017.00080

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Astrocytes are neuroglial cells that exhibit functional electrical properties sensitive to neuronal activity and capable of modulating neurotransmission. Thus, electrophysiological recordings of astroglial activity are very attractive to study the dynamics of glial signaling. This contribution reports on the use of ultra-sensitive planar electrodes combined with low noise and low frequency amplifiers that enable the detection of extracellular signals produced by primary cultures of astrocytes isolated from mouse cerebral cortex. Recorded activity is characterized by spontaneous bursts comprised of discrete signals with pronounced changes on the signal rate and amplitude. Weak and sporadic signals become synchronized and evolve with time to higher amplitude signals with a quasi-periodic behavior, revealing a cooperative signaling process. The methodology presented herewith enables the study of ionic fluctuations of population of cells, complementing the single cells observation by calcium imaging as well as by patch-clamp techniques.

【 授权许可】

Unknown