Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cell type in the brain. Although not apposite for long-range rapid electrical communication, astrocytes share with neurons the capacity of chemical signaling via Ca2+-dependent transmitter exocytosis. Despite this recent finding, little is known about the specific properties of regulated secretion and vesicle recycling in astrocytes. Important differences may exist with the neuronal exocytosis, starting from the fact that stimulus-secretion coupling in astrocytes is voltage independent, mediated by G-protein-coupled receptors and the release of Ca2+ from internal stores. Elucidating the spatiotemporal properties of astrocytic exo-endocytosis is, therefore, of primary importance for understanding the mode of communication of these cells and their role in brain signaling. We here take advantage of fluorescent tools recently developed for studying recycling of glutamatergic vesicles at synapses (Voglmaier et al., 2006; Balaji and Ryan, 2007); we combine epifluorescence and total internal reflection fluorescence imaging to investigate with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution, the stimulus-secretion coupling underlying exo-endocytosis of glutamatergic synaptic-like microvesicles (SLMVs) in astrocytes. Our main findings indicate that (1) exo-endocytosis in astrocytes proceeds with a time course on the millisecond time scale (τexocytosis = 0.24 ± 0.017 s; τendocytosis = 0.26 ± 0.03 s) and (2) exocytosis is controlled by local Ca2+ microdomains. We identified submicrometer cytosolic compartments delimited by endoplasmic reticulum tubuli reaching beneath the plasma membrane and containing SLMVs at which fast (time-to-peak, ∼50 ms) Ca2+ events occurred in precise spatial-temporal correlation with exocytic fusion events. Overall, the above characteristics of transmitter exocytosis from astrocytes support a role of this process in fast synaptic modulation.

ATP, released by both neurons and glia, is an important mediator of brain intercellular communication. We find that selective activation of purinergic P2Y1 receptors (P2Y1R) in cultured astrocytes triggers glutamate release. By total internal fluorescence reflection imaging of fluorescence-labeled glutamatergic vesicles, we document that such release occurs by regulated exocytosis. The stimulus-secretion coupling mechanism involves Ca 2؉ release from internal stores and is controlled by additional transductive events mediated by tumor necrosis factor-␣ (TNF␣) and prostaglandins (PG). P2Y1R activation induces release of both TNF␣ and PGE 2 and blocking either one significantly reduces glutamate release. Accordingly, astrocytes from TNF␣-deficient (TNF ؊/؊ ) or TNF type 1 receptor-deficient (TNFR1 ؊/؊ ) mice display altered P2Y1R-dependent Ca 2؉ signaling and deficient glutamate release. In mixed hippocampal cultures, the P2Y1R-evoked process occurs in astrocytes but not in neurons or microglia. P2Y1R stimulation induces Ca 2؉ -dependent glutamate release also from acute hippocampal slices. The process in situ displays characteristics resembling those in cultured astrocytes and is distinctly different from synaptic glutamate release evoked by high K ؉ stimulation as follows: (a) it is sensitive to cyclooxygenase inhibitors; (b) it is deficient in preparations from TNF ؊/؊ and TNFR1 ؊/؊ mice; and (c) it is inhibited by the exocytosis blocker bafilomycin A1 with a different time course. No glutamate release is evoked by P2Y1R-dependent stimulation of hippocampal synaptosomes. Taken together, our data identify the coupling of purinergic P2Y1R to glutamate exocytosis and its peculiar TNF␣-and PG-dependent control, and we strongly suggest that this cascade operates selectively in astrocytes. The identified pathway may play physiological roles in glial-glial and glial-neuronal communication.

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The REST/NRSF transcriptional repressor prevents cultured astrocytes from forming DCVs, and its variable expression in human brain cortex astrocytes may account for their functional heterogeneity.

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