Figures
Astrocyte-modulated cortical synaptic plasticity
Astrocytes influence cortical synaptic plasticity during postnatal development. The computational study by Manninen et al. links for the first time the interactions of complex molecular and cellular mechanisms of a fine astrocyte process (yellow) with neuronal presynaptic (red) and postsynaptic (cyan) sites to the time window of spike-timing-dependent long-term depression. The astrocyte is sensing the postsynaptic release of endocannabinoid and is modulating the presynaptic release of glutamate via astrocytic glutamate exocytosis affecting presynaptic NMDA receptor-mediated second messenger cascades.
Image Credit: Marja-Leena Linne, Ausra Saudargiene, Tiina Manninen, Noora Pihlajarinne
Citation: (2020) PLoS Computational Biology Issue Image | Vol. 16(11) November 2020. PLoS Comput Biol 16(11): ev16.i11. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pcbi.v16.i11
Published: November 30, 2020
Copyright: © 2020 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Astrocytes influence cortical synaptic plasticity during postnatal development. The computational study by Manninen et al. links for the first time the interactions of complex molecular and cellular mechanisms of a fine astrocyte process (yellow) with neuronal presynaptic (red) and postsynaptic (cyan) sites to the time window of spike-timing-dependent long-term depression. The astrocyte is sensing the postsynaptic release of endocannabinoid and is modulating the presynaptic release of glutamate via astrocytic glutamate exocytosis affecting presynaptic NMDA receptor-mediated second messenger cascades.
Image Credit: Marja-Leena Linne, Ausra Saudargiene, Tiina Manninen, Noora Pihlajarinne