Astrocyte Ca²⁺ responses in neocortical slices to mGluR agonist application are not altered by absence of cPLA₂α expression.

<p>Cortical brain slices from S100β-EGFP/cPLA₂α^+/+ (upper panel) and S100β-EGFP/cPLA₂α<b>⁻</b>^/− (lower panel) mice were loaded with the Ca²⁺-sensitive fluorophore Rhod-2/AM. Regions of interest representing astrocyte soma (white circles) and vascular foot processes (white box) were identified by EGFP expression and histologic location. Regions of interest representing background fluorescence for soma and endfeet are depicted by blue outlines. Ca²⁺ fluorescence measured for the soma and endfeet are displayed at 3 times in relation to 1S,3R-ACPD treatment: (a) before, (b) at peak response and (c) after. Representative Ca²⁺ measurements for soma and endfeet for each genotype are depicted in the right panel. The time of the 1S, 3R ACPD application is indicated by the black bar. The Ca²⁺ responses of astrocyte populations are shown in <b>B.</b> Soma (+/+, n = 169; <b>⁻</b>^/−, n = 166) and <b>C.</b> endfeet (+/+, n = 36; <b>⁻</b>^/−, n = 33) and were measured as Ca²⁺ peak amplitude, area under curve, half width, rise time, decay time or decay tau (as defined in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042194#s4" target="_blank">Methods</a>). The graphs show cumulative probability histograms analysis of the astrocyte populations by parameters compared between cPLA₂α^+/+ (open circles and bars) and <b>⁻</b>^/− (closed circles and bars) while inset bar graph shows the mean ± S.E.M. for each parameter. There were no significant differences between the genotypes.