Jian Kang

TL;DR: It is suggested that interneuronal firing elicits a GABAB-receptor-mediated elevation of calcium in surrounding astrocytes, which in turn potentiates inhibitory transmission, and Astrocytes may be a necessary intermediary in activity-dependent modulation of inhibitory synapses in the hippocampus.

TL;DR: It is reported that paroxysmal depolarization shifts can be initiated by release of glutamate from extrasynaptic sources or by photolysis of caged Ca2+ in astrocytes, and this finding identifies astroCytes as a proximal target for the treatment of epileptic disorders.

TL;DR: It is shown that whisker stimulation evokes increases in astrocytic cytosolic calcium (Ca2+) within the barrel cortex of adult mice, and that increases in Astrocytic Ca2+ occur independently of postsynaptic excitatory activity.

TL;DR: The adult human hippocampus contains mitotically competent neuronal progenitors that can be selectively extracted, and the isolation of these cells may provide a cellular substrate for re-populating the damaged or degenerated adult hippocampus.

TL;DR: Observations provide the first direct evidence for efflux of ATP through Cx43 hemichannels, and a putative Cx 43 hemichannel with characteristics identical to the Cx44 hemich channel in C6 cells was identified in the membrane of hippocampal astrocytes in acutely prepared slices.