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Key roles for astrocytes

… waste clearance, and regulation of the ions such as calcium that help them build up or disperse electric charge. … step with their neighboring neurons. Furthermore, blocking calcium signals in astrocytes, without affecting neurons, … or blood oxygenation signals that lie at the core of brain imaging methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging …

With new grant, MIT neuroscientists will give 'invisible' cells a new look

February 08, 2018
… astrocytes do signal their activity with increases of calcium. A decade ago in Science , Sur and colleagues used … formation of neural connections called synapses, how the calcium activity arises, and what difference that activity … is first developing. Using sophisticated and precise imaging tools, Sur’s team will monitor astrocyte and neuron …

A neuron’s neighbors

March 14, 2025
… the astrocytes’ ability to signal neurons with calcium. This not only undermined the smoothness of the … on astrocytes. It triggers a sustained increase in their calcium levels. That promotes them to release chemicals that …

Fruit fly models of human disease

… caused non-neural “glial” cells to retain too much calcium. By 2019 they found out how that led to seizures. The excess of calcium overactivated a protein called calcineurin. That …

From molecular to whole-brain scale in a simple animal, study reveals serotonin’s effects

May 15, 2023
… manipulation. Finally, Flavell’s team has developed imaging technologies that enable them to track and map neural … their ability to track all neuron activity (based on their calcium fluctuations) and all behaviors to watch how the … neuron was impacted by serotonin. “We performed brain-wide calcium imaging in freely-moving animals with knowledge of …

Feast or forage: Study finds circuit that helps a brain decide

November 22, 2021
… To keep constant track of neural activity, as indicated by calcium-triggered flashes of light, the Flavell lab invented … tracking the worms as they move around, thereby constantly imaging the activity of neurons across the worm’s brain, as indicated by calcium-triggered flashes of light. Ji used the scope to …
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