NEURO2026

Chairperson: Yuichiro Imai (Evident Corporation)

Co-hosted by Evident Corporation

Astrocytes encompass numerous synapses and blood vessels through their fine processes, enabling them to sense local neural activity and changes in the brain environment. Their complex morphology provides a structural basis for detecting neurotransmitters and neuromodulators and converting these extracellular signals into intracellular responses, including calcium, cAMP and metabolic signaling. However, how such local astrocytic signals influence neuronal activity, circuit function and behaviour remains incompletely understood. In this seminar, I will first outline recent approaches for visualizing and manipulating astrocytic fine structure and local intracellular signaling. I will then present our studies examining how neuromodulator-evoked signals in astrocytes reflect local neural activity, and how these signals contribute to circuit function and behavior. By taking local astrocyte–neuron communication as a starting point, I will discuss how processes operating at subcellular and cellular scales may be linked to systems-level brain function.