Astrocytes: Orchestrating synaptic plasticity?

By Maurizio De Pittà, Nicolas J.-B. Brunel, Andrea Volterra. 2015

236 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Synaptic plasticity is the capacity of a preexisting connection between two neurons to change in strength as a function of neural activity. Because synaptic plasticity is the major candidate mechanism for learning and memory, the elucidation of its constituting mechanisms is of crucial importance in many aspects of normal and pathological brain function. In particular, a prominent aspect that remains debated is how the plasticity mechanisms, that encompass a broad spectrum of temporal and spatial scales, come to play together in a concerted fashion. Here we review and discuss evidence that pinpoints to a possible non-neuronal, glial candidate for such orchestration: the regulation of synaptic plasticity by astrocytes.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience, Neurology

Citations in the corpus

• Physiology of Astroglia. (2018, unknown): “It is now universally acknowledged that astrocytes can modulate both the intrinsic neuronal excitability and the strength of synaptic transmission (55, 393).”