Temperature and nitric oxide control spontaneous calcium transients in astrocytes

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	Temperature and nitric oxide control spontaneous calcium transients in astrocytes
Creators Name:	Schipke, C.G., Heidemann, A., Skupin, A., Peters, O., Falcke, M. and Kettenmann, H.
Abstract:	Transient spontaneous increases in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration have been frequently observed in astrocytes in cell culture and in acutely isolated slices from several brain regions. Recent in vivo experiments, however, reported only a low frequency of spontaneous Ca2+ events in astrocytes. Since the ex vivo experiments were usually performed at temperatures lower than physiological body temperature, we addressed the question whether temperature could influence the spontaneous Ca2+ activity in astrocytes. Indeed, comparing the frequency and spike width of spontaneous Ca2+ transients in astrocytes at temperatures between 20 and 37 °C in culture as well as in acute cortical slices from mouse brain, revealed that spontaneous Ca2+ responses occurred frequently at low temperature and became less frequent at higher temperature. Moreover, the single Ca2+ events had a longer duration at low temperature. We found that nitric oxide (NO) mimicked the increase in spontaneous Ca2+ activity and that an NO-synthase inhibitor attenuated the effect of lowering the temperature. Thus, temperature and NO are major determinants of spontaneous astrocytic Ca2+ signalling.
Keywords:	Calcium, Astrocyte, Glia, Nitric oxide, Brain slice, Cell culture, Temperature, Animals, Mice
Source:	Cell Calcium
ISSN:	0143-4160
Publisher:	Elsevier
Volume:	43
Number:	3
Page Range:	285-295
Date:	March 2008
Additional Information:	The original publication is available at www.sciencedirect.com
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceca.2007.06.002
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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