title: Cerebral blood flow modulation by Basal forebrain or whisker stimulation can occur independently of large cytosolic Ca2+ signaling in astrocytes.
abstract: We report that a brief electrical stimulation of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM), the primary source of cholinergic projection to the cerebral cortex, induces a biphasic cerebral cortical blood flow (CBF) response in the somatosensory cortex of C57BL/6J mice. This CBF response, measured by laser Doppler flowmetry, was attenuated by the muscarinic type acetylcholine receptor antagonist atropine, suggesting a possible involvement of astrocytes in this type of CBF modulation. However, we find that IP3R2 knockout mice, which lack cytosolic Ca2+ surges in astrocytes, show similar CBF changes. Moreover, whisker stimulation resulted in similar degrees of CBF increase in IP3R2 knockout mice and the background strain C57BL/6J. Our results show that neural activity-driven CBF modulation could occur without large cytosolic increases of Ca2+ in astrocytes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neuron-Glia Circuit, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Saitama, Japan. takata@a8.keio.jp
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.forename: Terumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Katsuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oe
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mikoshiba
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirase
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D020532:Basal Nucleus of Meynert / Q000502:physiology*; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D051379:Mice; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology*