Scientists find brain cell switch that could reverse obesity’s effects

These discoveries reinforce the idea that astrocytes (long neglected in favour of neurons) play a key role in brain function. They also demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of astrocytes to restore cognitive function in the context of obesity, opening up new avenues of research to identify their exact role in energy metabolism.

These conclusions were reached using a combination of ex vivo and in vivo approaches in rodents, including chemogenetic techniques³, brain imaging, locomotion tests, cognitive behaviour and measuring the body’s energy metabolism.

Notes

1. Unlike neurons, astrocytes (nervous system cells) do not generate electrical activity, which has made them less easy to study in the past. However, thanks to improvements in observation techniques, we now know that their close cooperation with neurons is essential to the proper functioning of the nervous system.
2. Reporting to l’Unité de biologie fonctionnelle et adaptative (CNRS/Université Paris Cité). Scientists from l’Institut de biologie Paris-Seine (CNRS/Inserm/Sorbonne Université) were also involved.
3. Calcium is an essential chemical element for astrocyte function, enabling synaptic activity to be modulated. The chemogenetic technique employed was based on the use of a virus, to express, in a targeted manner in the astrocytes, a protein that could modulate calcium flow in the cell, rather like a switch. The scientists were thus able to study the effect of these calcium flows on the activity of the astrocytes and surrounding neurons.