Astrocyte-neuron interactions: from experimental research-based models to translational medicine

Computational modeling of neuron-glia signaling interactions to unravel cellular and neural circuit functioning

Glial cells have been shown to be vital for various brain functions, including homeostasis, information processing, and cognition. Over the past 30 years, various signaling interactions between neuronal and glial cells have been shown to underlie these functions. This review summarizes the interactions, particularly between neurons and astrocytes, which are types of glial cells. Some of the interactions remain controversial in part due to the nature of experimental methods and preparations used. Based on the accumulated data, computational models of the neuron-astrocyte interactions have been developed to explain the complex functions of astrocytes in neural circuits and to test conflicting hypotheses. This review presents the most significant recent models, modeling methods and simulation tools for neuron-astrocyte interactions. In the future, we will especially need more experimental research on awake animals in vivo and new computational models of neuron-glia interactions to advance our understanding of cellular dynamics and the functioning of neural circuits in different brain regions.

Analysis of Network Models with Neuron-Astrocyte Interactions

Neural networks, composed of many neurons and governed by complex interactions between them, are a widely accepted formalism for modeling and exploring global dynamics and emergent properties in brain systems. In the past decades, experimental evidence of computationally relevant neuron-astrocyte interactions, as well as the astrocytic modulation of global neural dynamics, have accumulated. These findings motivated advances in computational glioscience and inspired several models integrating mechanisms of neuron-astrocyte interactions into the standard neural network formalism. These models were developed to study, for example, synchronization, information transfer, synaptic plasticity, and hyperexcitability, as well as classification tasks and hardware implementations. We here focus on network models of at least two neurons interacting bidirectionally with at least two astrocytes that include explicitly modeled astrocytic calcium dynamics. In this study, we analyze the evolution of these models and the biophysical, biochemical, cellular, and network mechanisms used to construct them. Based on our analysis, we propose how to systematically describe and categorize interaction schemes between cells in neuron-astrocyte networks. We additionally study the models in view of the existing experimental data and present future perspectives. Our analysis is an important first step towards understanding astrocytic contribution to brain functions. However, more advances are needed to collect comprehensive data about astrocyte morphology and physiology in vivo and to better integrate them in data-driven computational models. Broadening the discussion about theoretical approaches and expanding the computational tools is necessary to better understand astrocytes' roles in brain functions.

Neuron-Glia Interactions and Brain Circuits

Recent evidence suggests that glial cells take an active role in a number of brain functions that were previously attributed solely to neurons. For example, astrocytes, one type of glial cells, have been shown to promote coordinated activation of neuronal networks, modulate sensory-evoked neuronal network activity, and influence brain state transitions during development. This reinforces the idea that astrocytes not only provide the "housekeeping" for the neurons, but that they also play a vital role in supporting and expanding the functions of brain circuits and networks. Despite this accumulated knowledge, the field of computational neuroscience has mostly focused on modeling neuronal functions, ignoring the glial cells and the interactions they have with the neurons. In this chapter, we introduce the biology of neuron-glia interactions, summarize the existing computational models and tools, and emphasize the glial properties that may be important in modeling brain functions in the future.

Advances in Astrocyte Computational Models: From Metabolic Reconstructions to Multi-omic Approaches

The growing importance of astrocytes in the field of neuroscience has led to a greater number of computational models devoted to the study of astrocytic functions and their metabolic interactions with neurons. The modeling of these interactions demands a combined understanding of brain physiology and the development of computational frameworks based on genomic-scale reconstructions, system biology, and dynamic models. These computational approaches have helped to highlight the neuroprotective mechanisms triggered by astrocytes and other glial cells, both under normal conditions and during neurodegenerative processes. In the present review, we evaluate some of the most relevant models of astrocyte metabolism, including genome-scale reconstructions and astrocyte-neuron interactions developed in the last few years. Additionally, we discuss novel strategies from the multi-omics perspective and computational models of other glial cell types that will increase our knowledge in brain metabolism and its association with neurodegenerative diseases.

A Neuromorphic Digital Circuit for Neuronal Information Encoding Using Astrocytic Calcium Oscillations

Neurophysiological observations are clarifying how astrocytes can actively participate in information processing and how they can encode information through frequency and amplitude modulation of intracellular Ca²⁺ signals. Consequently, hardware realization of astrocytes is important for developing the next generation of bio-inspired computing systems. In this paper, astrocytic calcium oscillations and neuronal firing dynamics are presented by De Pittà and IF (Integrated & Fire) models, respectively. Considering highly nonlinear equations of the astrocyte model, linear approximation and single constant multiplication (SCM) techniques are employed for efficient hardware execution while maintaining the dynamic of the original models. This low-cost hardware architecture for the astrocyte model is able to show the essential features of different types of Ca²⁺ modulation such as amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or both modes (AFM). To show good agreement between the results of original models simulated in MATLAB and the proposed digital circuits executed on FPGA, quantitative, and qualitative analyses including phase plane are done. This new neuromorphic circuit of astrocyte is able to successfully demonstrate AM/FM/AFM calcium signaling in its real operation on FPGA and has applications in self-repairing systems. It also can be employed as a subsystem for linking biological cells to artificial neuronal networks using astrocytic calcium oscillations in future research.

Neurons and astrocytes interaction in neuronal network: A game-theoretic approach

A neuron is the fundamental unit of the nervous system and the brain, crucial for transducing information in form of trains of electrical pulses known as action potentials. The connection between neurons is through synapses, enabling communication between neurons. This communication link is one of the key elements in processing of information from a neuron to another neuron. The strength of the synapses may vary over time, a phenomenon known as synaptic plasticity. This is the process by which it is believed memory and learning is governed. Recent studies revealed environmental factors affect the strength of synapses, and the way neurons communicate to each other. This poses the question as to what extent the pre- and post- synaptic neurons sense the environmental changes, and in turn adjust their synaptic link. Here, we model the behavior of an interconnected neuronal network in various environmental conditions as a multi-agent system in a game theoretic framework. We focus on a CA1 lattice subfield as an example plastic neuronal network. Our analysis revealed the neuronal network converges to different equilibria depending on the environmental changes. The model well-predicts the behavior of the network compared to a well-known theoretical model of individual neurons.

Challenges in Reproducibility, Replicability, and Comparability of Computational Models and Tools for Neuronal and Glial Networks, Cells, and Subcellular Structures

The possibility to replicate and reproduce published research results is one of the biggest challenges in all areas of science. In computational neuroscience, there are thousands of models available. However, it is rarely possible to reimplement the models based on the information in the original publication, let alone rerun the models just because the model implementations have not been made publicly available. We evaluate and discuss the comparability of a versatile choice of simulation tools: tools for biochemical reactions and spiking neuronal networks, and relatively new tools for growth in cell cultures. The replicability and reproducibility issues are considered for computational models that are equally diverse, including the models for intracellular signal transduction of neurons and glial cells, in addition to single glial cells, neuron-glia interactions, and selected examples of spiking neuronal networks. We also address the comparability of the simulation results with one another to comprehend if the studied models can be used to answer similar research questions. In addition to presenting the challenges in reproducibility and replicability of published results in computational neuroscience, we highlight the need for developing recommendations and good practices for publishing simulation tools and computational models. Model validation and flexible model description must be an integral part of the tool used to simulate and develop computational models. Constant improvement on experimental techniques and recording protocols leads to increasing knowledge about the biophysical mechanisms in neural systems. This poses new challenges for computational neuroscience: extended or completely new computational methods and models may be required. Careful evaluation and categorization of the existing models and tools provide a foundation for these future needs, for constructing multiscale models or extending the models to incorporate additional or more detailed biophysical mechanisms. Improving the quality of publications in computational neuroscience, enabling progressive building of advanced computational models and tools, can be achieved only through adopting publishing standards which underline replicability and reproducibility of research results.

Computational Models for Calcium-Mediated Astrocyte Functions

The computational neuroscience field has heavily concentrated on the modeling of neuronal functions, largely ignoring other brain cells, including one type of glial cell, the astrocytes. Despite the short history of modeling astrocytic functions, we were delighted about the hundreds of models developed so far to study the role of astrocytes, most often in calcium dynamics, synchronization, information transfer, and plasticity in vitro, but also in vascular events, hyperexcitability, and homeostasis. Our goal here is to present the state-of-the-art in computational modeling of astrocytes in order to facilitate better understanding of the functions and dynamics of astrocytes in the brain. Due to the large number of models, we concentrated on a hundred models that include biophysical descriptions for calcium signaling and dynamics in astrocytes. We categorized the models into four groups: single astrocyte models, astrocyte network models, neuron-astrocyte synapse models, and neuron-astrocyte network models to ease their use in future modeling projects. We characterized the models based on which earlier models were used for building the models and which type of biological entities were described in the astrocyte models. Features of the models were compared and contrasted so that similarities and differences were more readily apparent. We discovered that most of the models were basically generated from a small set of previously published models with small variations. However, neither citations to all the previous models with similar core structure nor explanations of what was built on top of the previous models were provided, which made it possible, in some cases, to have the same models published several times without an explicit intention to make new predictions about the roles of astrocytes in brain functions. Furthermore, only a few of the models are available online which makes it difficult to reproduce the simulation results and further develop the models. Thus, we would like to emphasize that only via reproducible research are we able to build better computational models for astrocytes, which truly advance science. Our study is the first to characterize in detail the biophysical and biochemical mechanisms that have been modeled for astrocytes.

Reproducibility and Comparability of Computational Models for Astrocyte Calcium Excitability

The scientific community across all disciplines faces the same challenges of ensuring accessibility, reproducibility, and efficient comparability of scientific results. Computational neuroscience is a rapidly developing field, where reproducibility and comparability of research results have gained increasing interest over the past years. As the number of computational models of brain functions is increasing, we chose to address reproducibility using four previously published computational models of astrocyte excitability as an example. Although not conventionally taken into account when modeling neuronal systems, astrocytes have been shown to take part in a variety of in vitro and in vivo phenomena including synaptic transmission. Two of the selected astrocyte models describe spontaneous calcium excitability, and the other two neurotransmitter-evoked calcium excitability. We specifically addressed how well the original simulation results can be reproduced with a reimplementation of the models. Additionally, we studied how well the selected models can be reused and whether they are comparable in other stimulation conditions and research settings. Unexpectedly, we found out that three of the model publications did not give all the necessary information required to reimplement the models. In addition, we were able to reproduce the original results of only one of the models completely based on the information given in the original publications and in the errata. We actually found errors in the equations provided by two of the model publications; after modifying the equations accordingly, the original results were reproduced more accurately. Even though the selected models were developed to describe the same biological event, namely astrocyte calcium excitability, the models behaved quite differently compared to one another. Our findings on a specific set of published astrocyte models stress the importance of proper validation of the models against experimental wet-lab data from astrocytes as well as the careful review process of models. A variety of aspects of model development could be improved, including the presentation of models in publications and databases. Specifically, all necessary mathematical equations, as well as parameter values, initial values of variables, and stimuli used should be given precisely for successful reproduction of scientific results.

Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulation suppresses pathogenic astrocyte activation and chronic progressive CNS inflammation

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS that causes disability in young adults as a result of the irreversible accumulation of neurological deficits. Although there are potent disease-modifying agents for its initial relapsing-remitting phase, these therapies show limited efficacy in secondary progressive MS (SPMS). Thus, there is an unmet clinical need for the identification of disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic approaches for SPMS. Here, we show that the sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor (S1PR) modulator fingolimod (FTY720) ameliorated chronic progressive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in nonobese diabetic mice, an experimental model that resembles several aspects of SPMS, including neurodegeneration and disease progression driven by the innate immune response in the CNS. Indeed, S1PR modulation by FTY720 in murine and human astrocytes suppressed neurodegeneration-promoting mechanisms mediated by astrocytes, microglia, and CNS-infiltrating proinflammatory monocytes. Genome-wide studies showed that FTY720 suppresses transcriptional programs associated with the promotion of disease progression by astrocytes. The study of the molecular mechanisms controlling these transcriptional modules may open new avenues for the development of therapeutic strategies for progressive MS.

Three Dimensional Conjugation of Recombinant N-Cadherin to a Hydrogel for In Vitro Anisotropic Neural Growth

Living cells are extensively being studied to build functional tissues that are useful for both fundamental and applied bioscience studies. Increasing evidence suggests that cell-cell adhesion controlled by intercellular cadherin junction plays important roles in the quality of the resulting engineered tissue. These findings prompted efforts to interrogate biological effects of cadherin at a molecular scale; however, few efforts were made to harness the effects of cadherin on cells cultured in an in vivo-like three dimensional matrix. To this end, this study reports a hydrogel matrix three dimensionally functionalized with a controlled number of Fc-tagged recombinant N-cadherins (N-Cad-Fc). To retain the desired conformation of N-Cad, these cadherins were immobilized and oriented to the gel by anti-Fc-antibodies chemically coupled to gels. The gels were processed to present N-Cad-Fc in uniaxially aligned microchannels or randomly oriented micropores. Culturing cortical cells in the functionalized gels generated a large fraction of neurons that are functional as indicated by increased intracellular calcium ion concentrations with the microchanneled gel. In contrast, direct N-Cad-Fc immobilization to microchannel or micropore walls of the gel limited the growth of neurons and increased the glial to neuron ratio. The results of this study will be highly useful to organize a wide array of cadherin molecules in a series of biomaterials used for three-dimensional cell culture and to regulate phenotypic activities of tissue-forming cells in an elaborate manner.

A new bio-inspired stimulator to suppress hyper-synchronized neural firing in a cortical network

Hyper-synchronous neural oscillations are the character of several neurological diseases such as epilepsy. On the other hand, glial cells and particularly astrocytes can influence neural synchronization. Therefore, based on the recent researches, a new bio-inspired stimulator is proposed which basically is a dynamical model of the astrocyte biophysical model. The performance of the new stimulator is investigated on a large-scale, cortical network. Both excitatory and inhibitory synapses are also considered in the simulated spiking neural network. The simulation results show that the new stimulator has a good performance and is able to reduce recurrent abnormal excitability which in turn avoids the hyper-synchronous neural firing in the spiking neural network. In this way, the proposed stimulator has a demand controlled characteristic and is a good candidate for deep brain stimulation (DBS) technique to successfully suppress the neural hyper-synchronization.