Astrocytes functionally interact with neurons and with other brain cells. Although not electrically
excitable, astrocytes display a complex repertoire of intracellular Ca 2+ signalling that …

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission provides an experimental model for
studying mechanisms of memory 1 . The classical form of LTP relies on N-methyl-d-aspartate …

Extrasynaptic actions of glutamate are limited by high-affinity transporters expressed by
perisynaptic astroglial processes (PAPs): this helps maintain point-to-point transmission in …

Astrocytes have long been regarded as essentially unexcitable cells that do not contribute to
active signaling and information processing in the brain. Contrary to this classical view, it is …

Synaptically released glutamate is largely cleared by glutamate transporters localized on
perisynaptic astrocyte processes. Therefore, the substantial variability of astrocyte coverage of …

Glial cells are now recognized as active communication partners in the central nervous
system, and this new perspective has rekindled the question of their role in pathology. In the …

The activation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) is conditioned by the binding of a co-agonist
to a dedicated receptor binding site. It is now largely accepted that D-serine plays this role at …

Although the extracellular matrix plays an important role in regulating use-dependent
synaptic plasticity, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we …

Voltage-dependent Ca 2+ channels (Ca V s) represent the principal source of Ca 2+ ions
that trigger evoked neurotransmitter release from presynaptic boutons. Ca 2+ influx is …

This paper examines the relationship between the morphological modality of 189 dendritic
spines and the surrounding astroglia using full three-dimensional reconstructions of neuropil …