Affiliation:
1. Institute for Physical Science and Technology University of Maryland College Park MD 20742 USA
2. Institute of Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity National Research Council of Italy 40129 Bologna Italy
3. Biosciences, Biotechnology and Environment University of Bari Aldo Moro 70125 Bari Italy
4. Physics Department University of Maryland College Park MD 20742 USA
Abstract
AbstractAstrocytes are key regulators of brain homeostasis, equilibrating ion, water, and neurotransmitter concentrations and maintaining essential conditions for proper cognitive function. Recently, it has been shown that the excitability of the actin cytoskeleton manifests in second‐scale dynamic fluctuations and acts as a sensor of chemophysical environmental cues. However, it is not known whether the cytoskeleton is excitable in astrocytes and how the homeostatic function of astrocytes is linked to the dynamics of the cytoskeleton. Here it is shown that homeostatic regulation involves the excitable dynamics of actin in certain subcellular regions of astrocytes, especially near the cell boundary. The results further indicate that actin dynamics concentrate into “hotspot” regions that selectively respond to certain chemophysical stimuli, specifically the homeostatic challenges of ion or water concentration increases. Substrate topography makes the actin dynamics of astrocytes weaker. Super‐resolution images demonstrate that surface topography is also associated with the predominant perpendicular alignment of actin filaments near the cell boundary, whereas flat substrates result in an actin cortex mainly parallel to the cell boundary. Additionally, coculture with neurons increases both the probability of actin dynamics and the strength of hotspots. The excitable systems character of actin thus makes astrocytes direct participants in neural cell network dynamics.
Funder
National Institutes of Health
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Subject
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,Biomedical Engineering,Biomaterials
Cited by
5 articles.
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