Role of Actin-mediated Motility of Peripheral Astrocytic Processes in Synaptic Function
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Among other glial cell types such as microglia, oligodendrocytes and radial glia, astrocytes are known to be involved in brain function; metabolically supporting neurons, regulating blood flow dynamics, participating in the development of pathological states, sensing and modulating synaptic activity. At the same time the complex astrocytic morphology, with a number of highly ramified peripheral processes located near the synaptic terminals, suggests them as a possible source for morpho-functional plasticity in the brain. This thesis summarizes the work on the in vitro development and further in vivo implementation, using a gene delivery system, of a tool for suppressing activity-dependent astrocytic motility. Calciuminduced astrocyte process outgrowth and its dependence on Profilin-1, novel in vivo gene delivery approaches, a demonstration of astrocytic motility in vivo and the independence of visual processing from astrocytic motility rates are the main findings of the project. The results described in this work increase our understanding of the interactions occurring between astrocytes and neurons as well as the consequences for brain function.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Dmitry Molotkov
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1590865751