Monica Lopez Hidalgo
ENES/UNAM
Associate Professor
Querétaro Arteaga, México
Astrocytes are glial cells that play important roles modulating the activity of neural circuits through the bushy process where they detect and respond to neuronal activity with intracellular calcium changes. It is clear that calcium activity provides a good read of the physiology of the astrocytes. However, understanding the dynamics of astrocyte calcium activity it is still a challenge and major questions remain to be addressed: Is there a hierarchical organization within the astrocyte processes? What is the role of the soma in the dynamics of sensory-driven calcium activity? In this talk, we will address these questions using principal component analysis (PCA), functional connectivity and network analysis within individual cortical astrocytes.