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Science 5 December 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5907, pp. 1551 - 1555
DOI: 10.1126/science.1164022
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Reports

Astroglial Metabolic Networks Sustain Hippocampal Synaptic Transmission

Nathalie Rouach,1* Annette Koulakoff,1 Veronica Abudara,1,2 Klaus Willecke,3 Christian Giaume1

Astrocytes provide metabolic substrates to neurons in an activity-dependent manner. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in this function, as well as its role in synaptic transmission, remain unclear. Here, we show that the gap-junction subunit proteins connexin 43 and 30 allow intercellular trafficking of glucose and its metabolites through astroglial networks. This trafficking is regulated by glutamatergic synaptic activity mediated by AMPA receptors. In the absence of extracellular glucose, the delivery of glucose or lactate to astrocytes sustains glutamatergic synaptic transmission and epileptiform activity only when they are connected by gap junctions. These results indicate that astroglial gap junctions provide an activity-dependent intercellular pathway for the delivery of energetic metabolites from blood vessels to distal neurons.

1 INSERM U840, Collége de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France.
2 Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay.
3 Institute of Genetics, University of Bonn, Roemerstraße 164, 53117 Bonn, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nathalie.rouach{at}college-de-france.fr

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Deletion of Astrocyte Connexins 43 and 30 Leads to a Dysmyelinating Phenotype and Hippocampal CA1 Vacuolation.
S. E. Lutz, Y. Zhao, M. Gulinello, S. C. Lee, C. S. Raine, and C. F. Brosnan (2009)
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CNS Regulation of Glucose Homeostasis.
C. K. L. Lam, M. Chari, and T. K. T. Lam (2009)
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