Intracortical astrocyte subpopulations defined by astrocyte reporter Mice in the adult brain

Main Points• Astroglial subpopulations with distinct reporter expression patterns are identified from the adult cortex.• Cortical astrocyte subpopulations exhibited distinct localization, physiological and molecular properties. AbstractAlthough historically regarded as a homogeneous cell population, astrocytes in different brain regions exhibit differences in their physiological properties, such as gap ‐junction coupling, glutamate uptake dynamics, and intracellular Ca2+ response. Recent in vivo RNA profiles have further demonstrated the molecular heterogeneity of astrocytes in the adult CNS. Astrocyte heterogeneity exists not only inter ‐regionally but also intra‐regionally. Despite the characteristic laminal organization of cortical layers and multiple sources of radial glia progenitors for (astro)gliogenesis, the molecular profile and functional properties of astroglial subpopulations in the adult cerebral cortex remain essen tially undefined. Using two astrocyte reporter mouse lines:eaat2‐tdTomato and Bacaldh1l1‐eGFP, we identified tdT−eGFP+, tdTloweGFP+, and tdThigheGFP+ astroglial subpopulations (in an approximate 1:7:2 ratio) within the cortex. The tdT−eGFP+ astrocyte population is selectively localized at layers I –II and exhibits increased resting membrane potential and membrane resistance but reduced functional expression of the potassium channel Kir4.1. We also isolated individual astrocyte subpopulations through fluorescence activated cell ...
Source: Glia - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research