Single-neuron mechanical perturbation evokes calcium plateaus that excite and modulate the network

Cepkenovic B, Friedland F, Noetzel E, Maybeck V, Offenhäusser A., Sci. Rep. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47090-z

In our new Scientific Reports publication Cepkenovic et al describes how small mechanical stimuli applied to a single neuron can have wide reaching and long lasting effects on neuronal network signalling. Piezo channels and gap junctions were implicated in conduction of these calcium based changes in activity. The findings have wide ranging implications from the design of non-invasive ultrasound brain stimulation to interpretation of the gold-standard of measuring neural activity - the patch clamp technique.

Figure 1. Calcium plateau generation and ground-truth. (a) Ground-truth of mechanical responses at the target. Yellow rectangles emphasize the mechanical stimulus response. (ai) On-chip patch-clamp measurements show bursting activity on the electrode coupled to the deformed neuron. (aii) Intracellular voltage and current responses to mechanical deformation showing slow depolarizations and inward currents, capable of inducing APs. (b) Ground-truth of calcium plateaus during the deformation of a nearby cell. (bi) Responding neighbors (R) displayed depolarizations corresponding to calcium plateaus, capable of eliciting APs (left, rectangle). (bii) Non-responding neurons lacked the calcium responses and respective depolarizations and showed only AP-associated calcium activity. (c) Pharmacological investigations of the calcium plateau generation. (ci) Plateau amplitudes at the target in control and treated groups. (cii) Exemplary target traces under pharmacological treatments, colors match (ci) For EGTA in 0 mM Ca²⁺ (orange), calcium traces with non-significant SNR (left) and fully-developed plateaus (right) are shown. Box plots have whiskers spanning over 1.5 × IQR. Significance was tested via two-tailed Mann–Whitney or t-test, with p-values adjusted with Bonferroni correction; ns:was tested via two-tailed Mann–Whitney or t-test, with p-values adjusted with Bonferroni correction; ns p>0.05 **, 10^–3 <p≤ 10^–2 ****, p≤ 10^–4.

Publication: Cepkenovic B, Friedland F, Noetzel E, Maybeck V, Offenhäusser A. Single-neuron mechanical perturbation evokes calcium plateaus that excite and modulate the network. Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 24;13(1):20669. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-47090-z. PMID: 38001109; PMCID: PMC10673841. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47090-z

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