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Poster C28 in Poster Session C - Friday, August 9, 2024, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
Are Astrocytes the Missing Hidden Layer? Harnessing the Tripartite Synapse Architecture for Cognitive Control of Behavior
Gregory J Simandl1 (), Robert C Twining1, Sidney Peck1, David A Baker1; 1Marquette University, WI, USA
Brain function is often attributed to the activity of neuronal circuits, yet some are beginning to speculate that phylogenetic gains in intelligence or other complex forms of cognition required increases in information processing that exceed the capacity of networks comprised solely of neurons. Conceptually, astrocytes represent a novel biological source for increasing the computational capacity of the brain. However, evidence supporting this important idea is largely lacking. An opportunity to use a biological system to test this intriguing idea is to manipulate system xc- (Sxc) to disrupt astrocyte to neuron communication (SXC:A-N). Sxc is a glutamatergic release mechanism exclusively expressed in vivo on astrocytes, thereby positioning this mechanism to relay integrated astrocytic information to neuronal networks. Here, we created and behaviorally characterized a line of genetically-modified rats lacking Sxc-mediated signaling between astrocytes and neurons (MSXC:A-N). MSXC:A-N did not alter simple forms of brain function, but significantly impaired rat performance on tasks requiring executive function (i.e., decision making). We propose that biological networks are capable of dynamically increasing computational processing power by engaging astrocytes, and by extension, SXC:A-N.
Keywords: astrocyte cognition evolution transformers