Analysis of interaction between glial cells in the cerebral cortex

近年来，研究发现星形胶质细胞与神经元或小胶质细胞与神经元之间的相互作用在神经传递的有效性或神经回路的精细化中起着重要作用。因此，首先，我们的目标是研究小胶质细胞和神经元之间的神经活性依赖的相互作用。在锥体神经元中诱发的重复动作电位引起轴突肿胀，其可伴随持续（> 10 min）和大（> 20 mV）的去极化，具有可能的病理后果。小胶质细胞过程迁移到这些肿胀的轴突中的机制涉及ATP和谷氨酸释放通过体积激活的阴离子通道。这种迁移到肿胀的轴突之后是密集的小胶质细胞包裹，其可以剥离扭曲的轴突隔室，随后快速恢复静息膜电位并将神经元从去极化诱导的死亡中拯救出来。

Recently, it has been reported that the interactions between astrocyte and neurons or microglia and neurons play important roles in the efficacy of neurotransmission or elaboration of neuronal circuits. Therefore, at first, we aim to study neuronal-activity-dependent interactions between microglia and neurons. Repetitive action potentials evoked in pyramidal neurons elicited an axonal swelling that could be accompanied by a sustained (>10min) and large (>20mV) depolarization with likely pathological consequences. Microglial processes migrated to these swollen axons in a mechanism involving both ATP and glutamate releases via volume-activated anion channels. This migration to swollen axons was followed by intensive microglial wrapping that could strip off the distorted axon compartment and subsequently rapidly restore the resting membrane potential and rescue neurons from depolarization induced death.