Astrocytes are star-shaped brain cells that react to state change and arousal. However, little is known about the principles of how they process these inputs. Peter Rupprecht and his team are using advanced 3D imaging to explore how astrocytes process signals within their complex internal structures. This research aims to reveal the logic of subcellular integration in astrocytes, in particular in response to arousal and stress.
Peter Rupprecht has received an Academic Excellence Fellowship of the Research Talent Development Fund of the UZHto investigate how our brain cells, specifically astrocytes, respond to stress and arousal. Astrocytes are fascinating cells distributed throughout the brain and are almost as abundant as neurons. Since many decades, they have been known to be implicated in conditions such as stress, anxiety, and depression. However, unlike neurons, little is known about how astrocytes integrate signals within their complex subcellular structure.
In this project, advanced 3D two-photon laser-scanning microscopy will be used to monitor calcium signals within astrocytes in the brains of awake mice. This technique will allow to visualize with subcellular precision how these cells react to natural arousal. In addition, by optogenetically stimulating the locus coeruleus, a brain region involved in arousal, the researchers will induce artificial arousal in a controlled way.
Based on this approach, the project will attempt to systematically dissect how astrocytes integrate signals across their entire structure and thus uncover the principles of astrocytic signal processing within individual cells. Describing these principles is a key requirement to understanding the functional role of astrocytes within the brain, and their dysfunction during pathological states. This work is therefore a stepping stone for future work to study such dysfunctions.
Useful links:
- Group website: https://www.hifo.uzh.ch/en/research/helmchen/Junior-Group-Peter-Rupprecht.html
- Related work: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01612-8
Main image: A single astrocyte, imaged with two-photon microscopy in the brain of a living mouse through multiple depths.