A role for astrocytes in conveying arousal effect in visual information processing.

Astrocytes populate the brain and spinal cord in numbers comparable to neurons.
They possess numerous functions, from housekeeping to active modulation of the circuits of neurons governing our behaviors. Yet many high end research projects in neurosciences ignore their potential implications in brain physiology and diseases. Noradrenaline is well-known for its role in flight or fight responses. It is released throughout the brain to increase attention and reaction time. Several studies showed that astrocytes respond to the presence of noradrenaline and that these responses might be crucial for noradrenaline effects on neurons. Recent findings of my host lab suggest that noradrenaline improves astrocytes responses to neuronal activity in the brain region that process vision. To shed light on these mechanisms and their implications, I will use sophisticated microscopic techniques to monitor together astrocytes and neurons in the part of the mouse brain that process visual information,  that in mice free to walk and looking at a screen where simple shapes are displayed. I will then alter the astrocytes capacity to respond to noradrenaline using drugs and mice with specific mutations, and see if this affects neurons, and vision in the end. While describing phenomenon happening in a healthy brain, both astrocytes and noradrenaline have been implicated in diseases mechanisms. These results might then open new venues to find cures to neurological and psychiatric disorders.