Synthetic photoswitches have been known for many years, but their usefulness in biology,
pharmacology, and medicine has only recently been systematically explored. Over the past …

Optogenetics is widely used to interrogate the neural circuits underlying disease and has
most recently been harnessed for therapeutic applications. The optogenetic toolkit consists …

Astrocytes are a type of glial cell that tile the CNS. They interact with multiple cell types,
including neurons, glial cells and blood vessels, and are involved or implicated in brain …

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 …

Light-controllable tools provide powerful means to manipulate and interrogate brain function
with relatively low invasiveness and high spatiotemporal precision. Although optogenetic …

Astrocytes comprise a heterogeneous cell population characterized by distinct
morphologies, protein expression and function. Unlike neurons, astrocytes do not generate …

Astrocytes release glutamate upon activation of various GPCRs to exert important roles in
synaptic functions. However, the molecular mechanism of release has been controversial …

We provide an overview of recent progress on the study of astrocyte intracellular Ca2+
signaling. We consider the methods that have been used to monitor astrocyte Ca2+ signals …

Astrocytes play important roles in synaptic transmission and plasticity. Despite in vitro
evidence, their causal contribution to cortical network activity and sensory information …

Local blood flow is modulated in response to changing patterns of neuronal activity, a
process termed neurovascular coupling. It has been proposed that the central cellular …