Calcium signals in astrocytes during sleep
In 2013 we started a collaborative project with Maiken Nedergaard’s group to investigate the regulatory mechanisms behind the paravascular brain waste clearance pathway, termed the “glymphatic system”. Nedergaard’s group has shown that the glymphatic pathway is formed by the astrocytic endfeet and that the brain waste clearance is more efficient during sleep than in the awake state. The mechanisms orchestrating brain waste clearance is still not known. Resolving these mechanisms is important for our understanding of a number of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's, and may pave the way for new treatment strategies. We hypothesize that astrocytic calcium activity patterns differ during wakefulness and sleep and regulates the glymphatic fluid flow.
We want to use two-photon microscopy combined with chronic windows and viral injections of GECIs to image astrocytic and neuronal calcium activity patterns in mice that are sleeping or awake, the state determined by ECoG and EMG measurements.
We want to use two-photon microscopy combined with chronic windows and viral injections of GECIs to image astrocytic and neuronal calcium activity patterns in mice that are sleeping or awake, the state determined by ECoG and EMG measurements.