Work

Astrocytes and neurons exhibit partially shared but distinct composite receptive fields for natural stimuli

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We used two-photon imaging to record calcium activity in astrocytes and neighboring neurons during presentation of natural ultrasonic vocalizations. We show that astrocyte activity is highly heterogeneous across spatial and temporal scales. Further analyses indicate that a subset of astrocyte calcium activity is stimulus-linked and tuned to dimensions of the stimulus that partially overlap with, but are not identical to, those encoded by neurons.

Source: Journal of Neurophysiology

DOI: 10.1152/jn.00505.2025

Authors: Sihao Lu, Simon R. Schultz, Andriy S. Kozlov

Institution: Imperial College London

Language: English

Topic: Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Awards: How do auditory cortical neurons represent ethologically relevant natural stimuli? Characterizing stimulus feature selectivity and invariance, EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Neurotechnology for Life and Health